Hart Van Denburg/CPR News Air pollution along the Front Range seen from a downtown Denver office tower on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Attorney General Phil Weiser will hire an independent investigator to probe whether employees at the state Department of Public Health and the Environment falsified data and illegally issued air quality permits. Weiser is seeking an independent investigator to look into whether whistleblower allegations made to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general accusing state officials of ignoring pollution violations last month are true, according to a request for information posted on the attorney general’s website Monday evening.