We need full disclosure, accountability regarding Suncor

Re: “Suncor’s obtuse response to pollution,” Jan. 29 editorial

Your editorial rightfully raises questions about the company’s continued presence in Commerce City.

For years, my family, my friends, and my community have suffered because Suncor has failed to show any concern for its neighbors’ health and well- being. I live in the shadow of Suncor’s refinery and have witnessed violation after violation that leaves all of us guessing as to how it could be impacting our health.

With its temporary shutdown, many of us thought we might have a reprieve from the facility’s impacts, but instead have been left to worry about gas leaks, benzene spills or releases, and pollution emission violations. This is what we are forced to live with — because state and federal regulators refuse to hold the company accountable.

It is time for the strongest possible permits to address its pollution and for some answers on what went wrong with the facility’s shutdown and how its emissions have been impacted.

We deserve to know whether we are safe or not.

Our community is tightknit — we take care of one another. Being a good neighbor means sharing information, being open about each other’s concerns, and protecting those who are most vulnerable. Suncor continues to fail to do all of these things. As your editorial points out, if Suncor can’t run a clean and safe facility to protect its workers and all of us, its time in Denver might need to end.

— Lucy Molina, Commerce City

Molina is a community activist and former candidate for Commerce City Council.

Your editorial details the toxins that the Suncor Energy oil refinery is unleashing into the urban area in which it operates— including cancer- causing benzene and PFAS. The editorial rightly underscores the utter lack of transparency around each successive public health scare, each adding to the cumulative health impact for residents like me and my family, who live just a few miles downstream of the refinery.

With its long history of violations and failure to notify the public at critical times, Suncor has lost the trust of the surrounding communities. Every day, we live with the stress of knowing that our families are breathing polluted air and drinking contaminated water — and we worry about how it may impact our health, both now and long term.

We need regulatory action, enforced protections, and full accountability starting now. To start, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment ( CDPHE) must take steps to inform the public about what risks remain and how emissions were impacted during its recent shutdown, and how CDPHE is going to stop Suncor from ever doing this again. Meanwhile, it’s our lives and health that hang in the balance as we fight this environmental injustice. Your editorial title questions Suncor’s future, but we, the residents, desperately want a future in Denver too.

— Shaina Oliver, Denver

Oliver is a Tribal member of the Navajo Nation living in northeast Denver with her family of six where she serves as one of the Colorado organizers for Moms Clean Air Force.