“There has been a pause on certain agency programs, but Superfund actions and emergency response will continue as normal,” said Andrew Mutter, deputy director at the Denver-based Environmental Protection Agency Region 8 Office of Communication and Public Involvement.

The information comes more than a day after news reports broke on a freeze put in place by the Trump administration transition team on EPA outside grants and contracts and on public communication.

“We’re continuing to engage,” Mutter told The Colorado Statesman. “We’re prepared to do the right thing and get information out to the public about what we’re doing and how we’re responding.”

The EPA with local contractors manages toxic spill clean up caused by extreme weather, broken pipelines, train derailments and overflow or punctured mine tailing ponds, for example.

In a release sent out late Wednesday, Mutter said that the agency “fully intends to continue to provide information to the public” and that “a fresh look at public affairs and communications processes is common practice for any new administration, and a short pause in activities allows for this assessment.”

Mutter didn’t return calls placed by The Colorado Statesman on Tuesday, seeking information on what the funding freeze would mean in Colorado, where some $200 million in EPA grants and contracts are being fulfilled, including $6.4 million in fiscal year 2017 grants paid to Colorado private sector contractors.

News of the freeze came from leaked memos. The agency seemed unprepared for the avalanche of reporting that would follow the leak.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper called agency communication on the matter “ambiguous.” He said it failed to “explain the duration or scope of the freeze.”

Speculation proliferated on possible Trump administration plans for ongoing agency research projects and clean up and emergency response work.

Speculation around the agency more generally has been intense since Trump was elected. Trump has promised to slash environmental regulations on industry. His nominee to head the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, holds a similar view toward EPA regulations and has sued the agency repeatedly on behalf of Oklahoma businesses and residents.

Mutter said that, for now, during the agency management transition, reporters should contact personnel in the Washington office who are working closely with the Trump team.

– john@coloradostatesman.com