POLLUTION

e state health department, which reached a large settlement with Suncor over past emissions incidents and failures, also said the new study would result in steppedup enforcement for the facility under increasing pressure from neighbors and local elected o cials.

“We anticipate the ndings will result in direct actions for Suncor to make improvements,” said Trisha Oeth, the CDPHE’s director of environmental health and protection.

Suncor did not respond to messages seeking comment this week.

Clean air advocates said state and federal o cials have plenty of information, and now must toughen their responses to Suncor’s ongoing air pollution incidents and applications for permit renewals.

“We have known Suncor has been a bad actor for years,” said Ean Tafoya, Colorado director of GreenLatinos. “It’s time to plan the just transition, including the retirement and remediation of Suncor. Our leaders have had the data. Now they have more. Will they act?” e EPA has said it will change policies and permitting to pursue environmental justice for the neighbors of frequent polluters.

Commerce City and north Denver neighborhoods surrounding Suncor have lower income, larger minority populations and higher rates of asthma and other health problems related to pollution than other Denver communities.

Suncor is the only petroleum re nery in Colorado, producing gasoline for cars and aviation fuel for Denver International Airport.

“Sta ng reductions will occur at all levels of the organization and will be based on both performance and business need,” Kruger told sta in the email. “As we do this, we will eliminate work, critically looking at what we do, why we do it, how we do it and the value it adds.”

Kruger said the goal is to cut costs by $400 million by the end of the year.

Suncor Energy named Kruger as president and CEO in February. Kruger was previously CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd. from 2013 through 2019.

Suncor Director of Corporate Communications Sneh Seetal told the Commerce City Sentinel Express that the company is not providing any additional details at this time. She also said there is no timeline in place for any announcements on the topic.

“Suncor is always looking for opportunities to drive value and improve performance in our business,” Seetal said. “Cost reduction is one of those opportunities.” e state requires that employers provide warning notices of mass layo s under the Worker Readjustment and Retraining Noti cation Act (WARN). Under WARN, employers must provide details 60 days in advance on how many employees will be laid o . e notices are meant to protect workers, their families and communities from the impacts of layo s. e company’s website says it sells nearly 95% of its products within the state and employs over 500 regional residents. e re nery has recently made headlines over the past few months. It was shut down for maintenance for around three months at the beginning of the year. It has also made the news for multiple issues, including a settlement over past emissions violations and criticisms from the community about communications about health concerns. chemical” PFAS into Sand Creek and the South Platte River by Suncor’s Commerce City re nery spiked to thousands of times the EPA’s revised drinking water guidelines for three months starting in November, according to lings with e elevated discharges came as state clean water o cials are struggling to complete revisions to Suncor’s water out ow pollution permits that were rst opened to public comments more than 18 months ago. Colorado o cials noted then that they had included PFAS limits for the rst time in a draft of the revised permit. PFAS is an abbreviation for per uoroalkyl and poly uoroalkyl substances, a group of potentially harmful chemicals used as waterproo ng in thousands of goods from stain resistant carpet to rain gear to re ghting e state health department’s water quality divisions have acted quickly recently to address potential pollution in runo from Suncor’s operations, Tafoya said. e air pollution division should use the study and other information to increase enforcement as well, he said. Various health divisions at the state should consider Suncor’s cumulative violations across all agencies.

As of June 12, there were also no formal lings indicating any Suncor layo s in Colorado, according to state records.

Suncor reported pro ts of $1.8 billion in the rst quarter of 2023, a 34% decrease from last year’s $2.7 billion.

Suncor’s Commerce City re nery location produces around 98,000 barrels of gasoline, diesel fuel and paving-grade asphalt each day.

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To subscribe call 303-566-4100 e re nery released potentially dangerous sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sul de into the surrounding neighborhood in late April, the second incident that month, and state health o cials warned the emissions could exceed permitted levels throughout that day.

In March 2020, Suncor agreed to pay $9 million to settle air quality violations at Commerce City dating to 2017, including one in 2019 that

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

SCOTT TAYLOR Metro North Editor staylor@coloradocommunitymedia.com

LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com blanketed adjacent neighborhoods in an ashy substance. It was the largest penalty Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had ever levied from a single facility to resolve air pollution violations.

Water quality advocates also monitor leaks of PFAS “forever chemicals” and benzene into waters around Suncor.

Discharges of toxic “forever is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

“At the end of the day, we need CDPHE to take the lead,” Tafoya said.

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