On May 26, High Country Earth First! (HCEF!)  launched its Stop I-70 campaign by hanging a banner from a Denver overpass reading, “Stop I-70 Expansion!”

The city of Denver is planning either to widen I-70 through Denver from 6 to 10 lanes or to add a two-mile, 8-lane detour to the highway. The expansion would destroy more than 50 homes and workplaces, increase air pollution and gas consumption, and destroy more than 300 acres of wildlife habitat. As HCEF! notes, this would all occur in an area already plagued with dozens of major polluters including a coal plant and oil refinery.

“The I-70 expansion is part of the greater picture, one where poor people and communities of color are systemically oppressed by the state for the continued privilege of white people and the wealthy,” the HCEF! press release reads. “Infrastructure expansion doesn’t meet the needs of underserved communities and only furthers their destruction. The I-70 expansion is no different; a low income community of color would be disrupted and displaced to serve the needs of a capitalist white supremacy.”

To find out more about the I-70 Denver expansion plans, check out the Environmental Impact Statement. To get involved in the struggle, get in touch with HCEF!, which is listed on our Affiliates and Allies page.

On that note, we have also added our first Root Force Affiliate group in Colorado: Welcome to Animas Perdidas Root Force, of Durango!

HCEF banner 5-26-09