Suncor Energy’s oil refinery in Commerce City has repeatedly violated the terms of the company’s federal pollution permits over the past five years, and government efforts to regulate the refinery are failing people whose health is threatened by releasing toxins into the air, according to a report a new lawsuit filed by three environmental organizations. groups claims.
Attorneys for Earthjustice, which represents GreenLatinos, 350 Colorado and the Sierra Club, filed the lawsuit Tuesday morning in the U.S. District Court of Colorado. The groups sent a notice of intent to file a lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency in early June and there was a 60-day waiting period before the lawsuit could be filed. During those 60 days, the EPA or the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment could have filed a lawsuit to overrule the environmental groups’ intentions.
According to the complaint, Earthjustice and its clients have documented at least 9,209 violations of the Clean Air Act by Suncor over the past five years. The refinery exceeded the amount of emissions of hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde and particulate matter that it is allowed to release under its federal air permit.
In 2020, Suncor released approximately 20 tons of hazardous air pollutants, 500 tons of carbon monoxide, 50 tons of nitrogen oxides, 125 tons of particulate matter, 450 tons of volatile organic compounds and 230 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air. claims.
The persistent pollution is making people in the surrounding neighborhoods sick with asthma, headaches and stomach complaints. And it hinders their ability to exercise outdoors and let their children play in nearby parks, the lawsuit says.
The refinery, which processes about 98,000 barrels of crude oil per day and supplies about a third of the gasoline used in Colorado, is located in a community that is disproportionately affected, meaning the majority of residents are Latino, Black or Indigenous is and in lower-income groups that the rest of the state merely bears the burden of pollution.
The refinery’s pollutants also contribute to the region’s smog, which forms on hot summer days when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides react in sunlight.
People living in north Denver and Commerce City, along with environmentalists, have been critical of state enforcement of Suncor in recent years. They say the recent settlements have not been harsh enough to force Suncor to comply.
In February, the state Health Department announced a $10.5 million settlement with Suncor — the largest in the state’s history — for repeated flight permit violations between July 2019 and June 2021. Under the agreement, Suncor paid $2.5 million to the state and agreed to spend $8 million. to repair its power system, which state regulators say has caused multiple violations.
In September, the EPA signed a consent agreement with Suncor after the refinery sold dirty fuel to gas stations in Colorado. Suncor paid a $160,000 fine for the violations, plus another $600,000 to fund a program to purchase electric lawn equipment for local governments, schools and residents in Commerce City and north Denver.
In 2020, the company and the state reached a $9 million settlement over violations that occurred in the previous three years.
The Canadian company remains under investigation for a December 2022 shutdown that released excessive amounts of pollutants into the air, and for a series of exceedances in December and January. Under the Clean Air Act, a judge can impose a fine of up to $121,000 per day per violation.
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