Sufficient is sufficient. The state of Colorado continues to fail communities whose well being is harmed by the air air pollution from the Suncor refinery in Commerce Metropolis.
Even the U.S. Environmental Safety Company is aware of the state is falling far quick in defending human well being and the setting. It has now objected not as soon as, however twice, to the refinery’s East Plant air allow, put forth by the Colorado Air Air pollution Management Division.
In late December, the EPA additionally objected to the refinery’s West Plant allow after group members petitioned the company to take action. That’s three strikes towards the division. What’s going to it take for the state to face up and prioritize the well being of its individuals over the earnings of one in all our very worst polluters?
As an alternative of utilizing the EPA’s second objection to the East Plant allow as a possibility to appropriate errors, the division as a substitute doubled down on its earlier missteps. The division waited over a 12 months to place forth this new draft allow but has failed to position significant restrictions on Suncor’s air pollution. Coloradans who’re pressured to breathe this air pollution deserve a lot better.
Amongst different issues, the EPA rejected the division’s excuses for not addressing Suncor’s lengthy historical past of allow violations and permitting the corporate to dodge stricter controls on a number of models on the refinery, together with its flares. These are commonsense measures to maintain the group and Suncor’s staff secure. However with the new draft allow, the division nonetheless doesn’t totally tackle the EPA’s issues, and on some points, the division outright ignores the EPA’s instructions.
It’s not as if the state doesn’t know what’s flawed with this allow — it has simply repeatedly refused to carry Suncor accountable in a means that protects group members and satisfies the necessities of the Clear Air Act. Neighborhood and conservation teams initially submitted feedback detailing the problems with Suncor’s East Plant allow in February 2021.
Since then, these teams have submitted two extra units of feedback and a 94-page petition to the EPA to object to the allow. The EPA has agreed with us in objecting to it twice (and even submitted public feedback criticizing this new draft).
But, right here we’re once more with one other weak allow from the division that helps nobody however Suncor. Why received’t the division act?
In that very same four-year timeframe:
- A hearth broke out on the refinery, injuring two staff, shutting the refinery down for 3 months, and triggering a positive from OSHA.
- Suncor failed to fulfill its statutory deadlines for instituting a fenceline monitoring system by over a 12 months and sued the state to water down its obligations below the regulation.
- The EPA issued a report discovering Suncor has way more violations than most different related refineries within the nation.
- The state has entered right into a second, consecutive enforcement settlement with Suncor, imposing a fraction of the penalties that it ought to have.
- The EPA carried out an inspection and issued an in depth discover of violation for Suncor.
- Neighborhood and environmental teams sued Suncor in federal court docket for its in depth violations of the Clear Air Act.
- A peer-reviewed article has been launched documenting beforehand unknown emissions of radioactive gasoline and particles from the Suncor refinery.
- Suncor has reported greater than 1,000 exceedances of the air pollution limits in its present, however outdated, permits.
- The division issued an insufficient allow for the West Plant and the group needed to file one other petition to the EPA. The EPA objected to this allow in December.
- And Suncor’s father or mother firm has reported over $17 billion in earnings and returned over $12 billion to its shareholders lately.
This unchecked, multinational polluter will proceed to hurt the encompassing group in its quest for earnings until the state businesses answerable for regulating it maintain them accountable.
As we transfer towards one more remark interval for one more inadequate draft allow, it’s clear the state of Colorado has not realized any significant classes over the previous few years.
Sadly, it would proceed to fall upon the group and nongovernmental organizations to choose up the slack and demand higher from Commerce Metropolis’s worst neighbor — and from our state’s environmental regulators.
It’s time for the Air Air pollution Management Division to do its job and concern permits that meet the necessities of the Clear Air Act.
Olga González, of Denver, is govt director for Cultivando.
Ean Thomas Tafoya, of Denver, is vp of state applications for GreenLatinos.
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