You don’t have to be a doctor to know that pollution in our air and in our water is bad for our health. It also doesn’t require an advanced degree to draw the correlation that having that same pollution rain down on your house or seep into your yard year after year and generation after generation is not only bad for your health but disastrous for a community.

As the CEO of a community health center, I work with a dedicated team that serves families that have experienced this kind of health risk for decades. But today, at this moment in time, we have the opportunity to write a new chapter to this story.

More than 25 years ago, I, along with a committed group of community members, founded Clinica Tepeyac, which serves the Globeville, Elyria and Swansea neighborhoods and the broader community. We provide quality, affordable health care, oral health, mental health services and health education to thousands each year, many of whom are experiencing financial challenges, immigration issues and other barriers that make accessing health care services extraordinarily difficult.

A history of industrial contamination has added to our community’s health challenges, a problem so severe that the 80216 ZIP Code, which includes the neighborhoods we serve, was named the nation’s most polluted ZIP code. Since 2018, state regulators have identified over 100 violations at the nearby Suncor oil refinery, which have impacted our air quality, including the excess emission of hydrogen cyanide, an agent that, depending on the concentration, could expose the community to significant harm. On March 17, Suncor issued a media advisory regarding the release of a “clay-like” substance but failed to identify what chemicals were also released. Since then, at least two more incidents at the plant have been identified including one that released an unidentified substance into Sand Creek on May 24.

But this isn’t a story of defeat or resignation. In fact, recent developments are making it possible to potentially reverse the decades-long trend of limited public health oversight in vulnerable communities like mine. Suncor has recently agreed to pay $9 million, one of the largest air quality fines in our state’s history. About $4 million will be paid in penalties and for community clean-up projects. The additional $5 million will be paid to an independent investigator to uncover why Suncor has so many problems and provide solutions. Certainly, this is a step in the right direction.

If we can build upon this settlement with public policy – even during the current COVID-related budgetary crisis – that ensures ongoing support and protection for communities like mine, we are obligated to do so. Some of the hoped-for public policy change that carries with it a cost to the state budget is not possible as our state lawmakers are compelled to make extremely difficult decisions to balance the state budget. Other ideas, however, like establishing a fee-based means for industry to help support monitoring and enforcement needed to clean up our air, are still viable and ought to be prioritized by lawmakers if they hope to help our communities continue to make progress.

It has taken many years, and many dramatic releases of hazardous chemicals to finally create a settlement that is meaningful to our communities. Other neighborhoods impacted by polluters in Pueblo and Colorado Springs and Greeley – to name a few – haven’t received the same attention as the high-profile incidents that have occurred in the Denver metro area and they are not slated to receive benefits from settlements. We need to support those communities as well with policy that strengthens the ability of our state agencies to monitor and act when polluters harm our neighborhoods. State lawmakers need to send the message that they intend to aggressively defend our communities against environmental pollution and hold polluters accountable whenever possible.

Jim Garcia is the CEO of Clinica Tepeyac and a longtime advocate for the health and wellness of his community.