Located just west of I-270 on Brighton Boulevard in Commerce City, the Suncor refinery is Colorado's only major petroleum refinery. The refinery is divided into three plants: Plants 1 and 2 are a major supplier of gasoline and diesel fuel in Colorado, while Plant 3 is the state's main producer of asphalt. The refinery has been in operation since 1931.

Although the refinery is located within the city, most regulatory oversight of the facility is conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Environmental Reportable Events Summary

The City tracks historical permit violations monthly. Attached are the most current permit violations in English and Spanish. The entire list of exceedances can be found in our database with an explanation of health impacts.  

Sign up for refinery notifications from Suncor

As of June 1, 2021, you can sign up for notifications from Suncor about the Commerce City Refinery in both English and Spanish. When you can see, hear or smell something at the refinery that may prompt questions or concerns, refinery notifications allow you to hear about it directly from Suncor via text, email and/or phone. To sign up for refinery notifications, visit Suncor.com/CCRsignup or text SUNCOR to 888777. Suncor will also continue to share updates at Suncor.com/Colorado when there is an event or incident. 

Reportable events – Suncor submits reports to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment at different times depending on applicable requirements, but you can view a monthly summary in English and Spanish of what has been submitted, including air permit exceedances, here. 

Improvement Plan – regular updates about Suncor’s work to improve the refinery’s safety, reliability, culture and training can be found at Suncor.com/ccr-report. 

In the event of an emergency requiring action, hazardous conditions, or emergent events threatening lives or property, notifications will come through the CodeRED emergency alert system operated by the AdComm 911 dispatch center.

Click or tap here to sign up for CodeRED

GEMM2 Rule for Suncor

The state will be implementing new regulations entitled GEMM2 Rule for Suncor. The first public draft of the GEMM 2 rule language is now available on their website. Please note that this document is intended to encourage public input and will continue to be modified in the next months as we  gather additional feedback and further develop key aspects of the rule, up through the Air Quality Control Commission rulemaking hearing in September 2023.

If you would like to provide feedback on the draft rule language, please use this comment form. Attachments may be emailed to cdphe.commentsapcd@state.co.us (Subject: GEMM 2).

Suncor Title V Permit – Plant 1 and 3

On July 5, 2022 the City submitted the following 9 - page comment letter to CDPHE documenting past violations, environmental justice issues and recommendations to help protect the health of workers and community members.

Title V Operating Permit Renewal - Plant 2 

Under the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, the refinery is classified as a "Major Source" based on their pollutant emission levels and is required to maintain a Title V Operating Permit. 

The Suncor Commerce City Refinery currently has two separate EPA permits governing their emission levels. One permit regulates Plants 1 & 3 (west of Brighton Road), and a separate permit regulates emissions at Plant 2 (east of Brighton Road). The permit for Plant 2 is currently up for renewal with the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission. This process will include public hearings and comment opportunities.

Learn more about the Suncor Title V permit renewal from CDPHE

As part of the permit renewal process, Commerce City submitted an official comment letter to the CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division on March 19, 2021.

Commerce City comment letter on Draft Plant 2 Title V Operating Permit

Water Quality Permit Renewals 

The state’s Water Quality Control Division is currently in the process of renewing two permits for the Suncor Refinery related to water quality and limiting the pollution that is released to groundwater sources and Sand Creek:

• One permit allows for outfall of treated wastewater and groundwater into Sand Creek
• Another permit allows for the discharge of stormwater off the Suncor site into Sand Creek

This detailed state permit renewal process has a targeted adoption date of Spring 2022. This process will include public hearings and comment opportunities.

Learn more about the Suncor water quality permit renewal process from CDPHE

Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) Process

In March 2020, CDPHE announced a $9 million settlement for State and Federal air pollution violations at the Suncor refinery. Over $2.6 million of that settlement will be used for environmental projects benefiting communities near the refinery. This area includes southwest Commerce City, the Elyria-Swansea and Globeville neighborhoods of Denver, and segments of unincorporated Adams County. 

The state’s Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) process determines how this money is distributed, what kinds of projects are funded, and how/where they are implemented. To ensure that Commerce City residents benefit from these projects, the city submitted project applications for the state to consider.

Commerce City Community Outreach

To identify residents' environmental concerns, suggestions, and priorities for our project applications, the city relied heavily on community input. We hope that demonstrating community need and public health benefits of these projects will give the city’s proposals a better opportunity of being selected by the state committee.

A project suggestion form was open throughout August 2020, receiving 49 submissions (view the results HERE and HERE). This community feedback was presented to city council on September 14, 2020.

Considering community and city council feedback, the city narrowed the list to the two projects listed below and presented them for another round of feedback in December 2020 before finalizing the proposals.

Commerce City Project Submittals

• 1. Air Monitoring Network Pilot Program
  • Focuses on gaining readings in residential areas in close proximity to high emitting industrial uses
  • Establishes a data baseline for the City
  • Incorporates community notification options if Hazard Air Pollutants (HAPS) exceed an identified threshold for impacts to human health
  • View the full proposal
• 2. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) improvements, weatherization, and energy efficiency upgrades 
  • Focuses on improving HVAC systems, indoor air filtration, sealing windows, and other similar improvements for homes in close proximity to the refinery
  • View the proposal
    Note: This SEP application was submitted by our referral partner, Energy Outreach Colorado.

How does the state process work?

Commerce City is among many local governments, nonprofits and other organizations submitting proposals to CDPHE. The state wants proposed projects to fit these criteria:

1. The project creates measurable environmental or public health impacts
2. The project benefits the geographic area impacted by the violation(s)
3. The project is not required to address the same environmental concerns caused by the violations 
   (i.e. projects do not need to address only air quality, even though the Suncor settlement is for air pollution violations)

Projects submitted to CDPHE will be evaluated by a state-selected evaluation committee that will review and select the projects that will receive funding. The evaluation committee will consist of nine community members, one Suncor representative, and one CDPHE representative.

CDPHE Community Outreach

As part of the state's community outreach for this process, CDPHE hosted two virtual community forums in September for residents of the areas around Suncor. To learn more about state outreach efforts and process updates, visit the CDPHE Suncor Settlement SEP page.

Commerce City informational meeting

The city hosted a virtual meeting on August 13, 2020 to help explain this process and answer questions from the public. This meeting was an online Zoom video conference, with live Spanish interpretation offered by phone. 

View the meeting presentation

En Español

 

Background: Suncor Violations and Settlement

On March 6, 2020, CDPHE announced a $9 million settlement for State and Federal air pollution violations at the Suncor refinery in Commerce City. The settlement addresses many events where Suncor emitted pollutants over set limits as well as violations relating to requirements of how facilities are operated and monitored. These events occurred since July 2017, including a significant increase in violations that occurred during the period from January through June 2019. The settlement also includes penalties for the “operational upset” and other violations that happened in December 2019. $2,624,100 of this settlement will be used for the state’s Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) to benefit the surrounding communities. 

The agreement included a requirement for Suncor to conduct additional public outreach efforts in Commerce City and other surrounding communities. You can find updates on their efforts and their upcoming action plan at Suncor's "Listening to the Community" webpage.

Contact / Questions

Commerce City staff contact:

Olivia Quagliani
oquagliani@c3gov.com