The Commerce City oil refinery, the only oil refinery in Colorado, is operated by Suncor Energy Incorporated and processes approximately 98,000 barrels of fuel and petroleum products a day. Even though it is a large benefactor to Colorado’s economy, contributing $2.5 billion a year, Suncor’s oil refinery is also the second-largest contributor to Colorado’s greenhouse gas and toxic air pollutant emissions. 

Suncor is defined as a major source polluter; a title given to any polluter that has the potential to emit 10 tons per of a hazardous air pollutant per year or 25 tons of any combination of hazardous air pollutants per year. Any major source polluter is required to submit a permit subject to approval according to compliance with regulations for air pollution under Title V of the Clean Air Act. 

The oil refinery’s permit surpassed the deadline to be renewed in 2011, leaving the communities surrounding it with no information and no support from Colorado’s local or state governments. According to a state document detailing Suncor’s permit information, the oil refinery has continued operating as they submitted an application that has yet to be approved “due to staff shortages” at the Colorado Air Quality Control Division.

“I call it my deadly neighbor, I live walking distance from the refinery,” Lucy Molina, an activist and community organizer said. “It smells like rotten eggs here–what are we smelling?”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2017 toxic release inventory, Suncor releases more than 116,000 pounds of hazardous air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and benzene. The heavily populated area surrounding the refinery feels the effects of the pollution, reporting an increase in physical consequences ranging from migraines and nosebleeds to asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes or heart disease.

Molina has had numerous family members affected by migraines, nosebleeds, asthma, diabetes and leukemia. 

“If we would have known, we would have moved out of here years ago,” Molina said. “But we were never warned, we weren’t told anything.”

The pollution doesn’t just settle in Commerce City, the oil refinery affects the entire front range, including Boulder County. Because of inversions caused by circulating air, the air cannot breach the mountains, meaning that the pollutants settle throughout the front range area. On high ozone days, Boulder residents are likely to see brown clouds saturating the sky, these are the air pollutants. 

“Air pollution travels and it travels really far,” Sunny Benoit, community environmental justice advocate and attorney said. “The city of Boulder filed a lawsuit against Suncor because of its air pollution. The tenth circuit court of appeals has just permitted that case to move forward.”

This lawsuit, Board of Commissioners of Boulder County v. Suncor Energy, sues the oil refinery for continuing to sell and market fossil fuels amidst deceiving the public about their contributions to global warming. This case would not just improve the health of Boulder County residents, but also may set legal precedents for how climate change may be approached in Colorado’s courts in the future.

Board of Commissioners of Boulder County v. Suncor Energy would widen the legal narrative currently surrounding climate change to recognize climate impacts beyond those that affect sea level rise. Along with this, the lawsuit brings the first statutory consumer protection claim in climate litigation by centering around the company’s deception. Boulder is not just seeking to regulate Suncor Energy, the city is seeking legal reform by pointing out the inadequacy of current doctrines.

Suncor has a history of polluting the front range; in 2012, the energy corporation was fined $2.2 million for releasing benzene into the atmosphere; a compound that can cause cancer. In 2020, Suncor was required to pay $9 million for emissions of volatile organic compounds, such as hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. 

In a study by the University of Michigan, researchers found that, over 30 years, there was a consistent pattern of placing hazardous waste facilities in neighborhoods where people under the poverty line and people of color live.

In Commerce City, where the oil refinery is located, around half the residents are Hispanic or Latino.

“This is a low-income community–mostly a Latino, immigrant community–which is why I always fight against environmental racism,” Molina said. 

Molina continued, referring to the physical consequences her family has been subject to, “When your elected officials tell me that there is nothing they can do, that it is genetic, then that is environmental racism.” 

Shaina Oliver is a field consultant and member of Moms Clean Air Force. “As an Indigenous mother, to me, Suncor is the legacy of genocide for Indigenous people,” Oliver said. “Suncor sits along this river that leads to the site of the Sand Creek Massacre.”

Oliver reflected on other environmentally racist policies, such as the Indian Removal Act.

Oliver stated, “These environmental racist policies have a long-lasting impact on not only Indigenous communities, people and families, but a long historic impact on our environment.”

Suncor is located next to the South Platte River and Sand Creek River, both of which are used in public waterways, dams or to mitigate water sources for communities.

“These are environmentally racist policies because they continue to inflict harm on people of color, especially Indigenous people who have been the target of policies that allow industries to do whatever they want on our land,” Oliver said. 

Molina points to the economic side of things as well, likening industry to corruption; controlling all levels of the government with money. She pointed out the unfair advantage industry has over her community; as they lack the proper funding and representation it takes to fight back.

“We have never had a seat at the table,” Molina said. “But, the polluter and the criminal are running the show.”

A sociopolitical explanation as to why industries settle in these communities has been coined as “the path of least resistance.” This refers to industries and businesses targeting communities that are perceived as lacking in political power; the intended result being less community resistance, less bad publicity and fewer startup delays.

Makayla Garza, a student at Naropa University, believes it to be an ethical issue, “Big corporations see people of color as expendable and that is why regulation will not help unless we see people of color as not expendable.”

“Honestly I really hope that people start turning out,” Molina said. “The right thing to do is to move, they need to get out of here, shut down.”

“They owe this community, not just the industries, but our government–our government has allowed this situation to escalate,” Molina said. 

The way community members can fight an environmental injustice like this one is to advocate for different legislation. 

Molina stated, “This is the beginning step, our government has cheated us–my generation–lied to, manipulated and poisoned us.”

“Through the laws, through the policies, through the legislation, they were forced to become a good neighbor,” Molina said about Suncor. “And they still aren’t a good neighbor because they are still asking to emit more!”

“Regarding the future of this movement, I think it is extremely important to emphasize that until we relieve ourselves of our dependence on fossil fuels, there is always going to be environmental justice,” Benoit said,