MONTROSE – At an Aug. 11 town hall meeting, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., seemed to join those calling for the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency director Gina McCarthy, noting that the number of people calling for her resignation was mounting following the EPA-caused spill of three million gallons of mine waste into the Animas River near Silverton.

“If this was a private sector company, they’d be paying hell for this,” Gardner told a packed room at Remington’s, the five-star restaurant at The Bridges Golf Course.

Sen. Gardner said he was supporting a bill by Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., that would prevent the EPA from implementing its proposed rule, “The Water of the United States Under the Clean Water Act.”

The nation’s waterways “would be federalized under this rule,” he said.

Gardner also said he opposed the EPA’s recent clean air regulations targeting the coal industry.

“People that can least afford it pay the highest price for power,” the Yuma resident said. “We still need coal as a vibrant part of our energy mix.”

In another criticism of the EPA, Gardner said he was proposing legislation that would allow Colorado to determine its own path regarding the yellow-billed cuckoo and Gunnison sage grouse.

“The state can choose to follow the state program or follow the federal plan,” Gardner explained.

The freshman Senator said the Senate’s Republican majority was planning to repeal Obamacare, No Child Left Behind and Common Core.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “finally” agreed to a vote on repealing Obamacare, Gardner said.

The budgeting and appropriations process in Congress needs reform because “the calendar works in favor of big government,” he said, noting that the Sept. 30 deadline for budget and appropriations bills was hard to meet. “The calendar works against us.”

Gardner advocated a “guest worker program” to solve some of America’s problems with illegal immigration. He observed that most immigrants from Mexico enter America legally with a Visa, but stay longer than the law allows, becoming illegal.

“We have a completely broken immigration system,” he said, estimating that there are 12 million illegal immigrants currently in America.

Gardner said the Senate was planning a vote on President Barack Obama’s negotiated deal with Iran regarding nuclear development, but he also noted that Obama had persuaded many nations to already drop their sanctions against Iran.

“You have an Iran that’s on the verge of getting a nuclear bomb with the blessing of the global community,” he said.

In answer to an audience question about the nation’s $18 trillion debt, Gardner said, “You can’t tax your way out of it. You can’t inflate your way out of it.”

Gardner did not say which Republican candidate he supported for president, but he mentioned that “64 percent of Coloradans believe Hillary is untrustworthy.”

The Senator also noted that replacing Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., with McConnell as Senate Majority Leader had caused some changes in Senate proceedings that even Democratic Senators appreciated.

One unnamed Democrat told Gardner that he was able to offer an amendment to a piece of legislation for the first time in four years under McConnell.

– Ron Bain is a contributing reporter for The Statesman on Colorado’s Western Slope