There are two standards in Colorado: one for corporate polluters and another for the rest of us. The Suncor refinery has been allowed to operate on expired permits and exceed its pollution limits for years, yet if any of us were to so much as drive on expired tags for a few weeks we would face swift penalties.
Real accountability for Commerce City’s bad neighbor is long overdue.
I live in the shadow of the Suncor refinery and spend most days worrying about the health of my family and those I love. It is infuriating that Suncor has been allowed to continue operating in my community with slaps on the wrist for its numerous pollution violations and repeated safety concerns. There is no justice here — only platitudes and PR statements.
If the state won’t take meaningful action to hold Suncor accountable, the people must. That’s why environmental justice and conservation groups recently submitted a notice of intent to sue the Suncor refinery for its repeated violations of the Clean Air Act. Through the suit, the groups will be essentially stepping into the role of regulator to demand real accountability and remediation for Suncor’s extensive violations.
Earlier this year, the state fined Suncor a measly $2.5 million for the refinery’s repeated air pollution violations in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and required another $8 million in plant improvements. While it was surprising to see the refinery fined at all, it was not nearly enough of a deterrent for a multibillion-dollar company like Suncor.
While I’m happy that agencies just this week sent Suncor a violation notice for many of its violations, communities still need to see if they follow through on holding Suncor accountable.
According to Suncor’s own reporting, it has exceeded or violated emissions requirements more than 1,000 times over the five-year period between 2019 and 2024. The notice of intent from environmental justice and conservation groups alleges that these emissions exceedances amount to over 9,000 days of violations. Under the Clean Air Act, the civil penalties for these violations could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Suncor has been a menace to our community for years. In addition to exceeding its air pollution limits, the refinery numerous times has dumped cancer-causing benzene into Sand Creek — well over its permitted limits — and also caused us to shelter in place after releasing clouds of yellow catalyst.
While ultimately many in my community, including myself, want to see this facility gone, with a just transition for workers, at the very least we deserve for the refinery to be held to its pollution limits with remediation for the harm already caused. While the lawsuit these groups plan to file will not shut down Suncor, it could be a meaningful step toward holding them accountable.
Communities surrounding the refinery have faced significant health impacts from pollution for years. The North Denver region is one of the most polluted zip codes in the country. Residents have higher rates of asthma and asthma-related emergency room visits than people in the rest of the city. And for those of us who are not yet sick, we are forced to live in fear about the potential impacts on ourselves and our families.
This is no way to live — our communities are treated as disposable by those in power.
Justice is not charity. A community should not have to sue to secure the protections it should already receive from federal and state agencies — the protections that are required by the Clean Air Act.
Suncor has been allowed to pollute our community with little to no repercussion for far too long. We hope that this lawsuit will bring much-needed relief to our community and provide an actual deterrent for the company to continue exceeding its pollution limits. If the state or federal agencies won’t step up to hold Suncor accountable, we will.
Lucy Molina, who lives in Commerce City, is an impacted resident in the Suncor area and a community organizer with 350 Colorado.
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