Opinion: Suncor refinery continues to violate its ai pollution permits. Colorado isn’t keeping them in check.
Enough is enough. The state of Colorado continues to fail communities whose health is harmed by the air pollution from the Suncor refinery in Commerce City.
Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency knows the state is falling far short in protecting human health and the environment. It has now objected not once, but twice, to the refinery’s East Plant air permit, put forth by the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division.
In late December, the EPA also objected to the refinery’s West Plant permit after community members petitioned the agency to do so. That’s three strikes against the division. What will it take for the state to stand up and prioritize the health of its people over the profits of one of our very worst polluters?
Instead of using the EPA’s second objection to the East Plant permit as an opportunity to correct mistakes, the division instead doubled down on its previous missteps. The division waited over a year to put forth this new draft permit yet has failed to place meaningful restrictions on Suncor’s pollution. Coloradans who are forced to breathe this pollution deserve much better.
Among other things, the EPA rejected the division’s excuses for not addressing Suncor’s long history of permit violations and allowing the company to dodge stricter controls on several units at the refinery, including its flares. These are commonsense measures to keep the community and Suncor’s workers safe. But with the new draft permit, the division still doesn’t fully address the EPA’s concerns, and on some issues, the division outright ignores the EPA’s directions.
It’s not as if the state doesn’t know what is wrong with this permit — it has just repeatedly refused to hold Suncor accountable in a way that protects community members and satisfies the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Community and conservation groups originally submitted comments detailing the issues with Suncor’s East Plant permit in February 2021.
Since then, those groups have submitted two more sets of comments and a 94-page petition to the EPA to object to the permit. The EPA has agreed with us in objecting to it twice (and even submitted public comments criticizing this new draft).
Yet, here we are again with another weak permit from the division that helps no one but Suncor. Why won’t the division act?
In that same four-year timeframe:
- A fire broke out at the refinery, injuring two workers, shutting the refinery down for three months, and triggering a fine from OSHA.
- Suncor failed to meet its statutory deadlines for instituting a fenceline monitoring system by over a year and sued the state to water down its obligations under the law.
- The EPA issued a report finding Suncor has far more violations than most other similar refineries in the country.
- The state has entered into a second, consecutive enforcement settlement with Suncor, imposing a fraction of the penalties that it should have.
- The EPA conducted an inspection and issued an extensive notice of violation for Suncor.
- Community and environmental groups sued Suncor in federal court for its extensive violations of the Clean Air Act.
- A peer-reviewed article has been released documenting previously unknown emissions of radioactive gas and particles from the Suncor refinery.
- Suncor has reported more than 1,000 exceedances of the pollution limits in its current, but outdated, permits.
- The division issued an inadequate permit for the West Plant and the community had to file another petition to the EPA. The EPA objected to this permit in December.
- And Suncor’s parent company has reported over $17 billion in profits and returned over $12 billion to its shareholders in recent years.
This unchecked, multinational polluter will continue to harm the surrounding community in its quest for profits unless the state agencies in charge of regulating it hold them accountable.
As we move toward yet another comment period for yet another insufficient draft permit, it is clear the state of Colorado has not learned any meaningful lessons over the past few years.
Unfortunately, it will continue to fall upon the community and nongovernmental organizations to pick up the slack and demand better from Commerce City’s worst neighbor — and from our state’s environmental regulators.
It is time for the Air Pollution Control Division to do its job and issue permits that meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.
Olga González, of Denver, is executive director for Cultivando.
Ean Thomas Tafoya, of Denver, is vice president of state programs for GreenLatinos.
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