When a half moon puts out its soft light against a bright blue-day sky, as in this third week of April 2021, special things can happen. And so, Cultivando, the Commerce City-based health leadership and equity nonprofit, received a $1.7 million award to administer and implement an air quality program based on $2.5 million of $9 million of the Suncor refinery pollution fine from 2020 for over 100 emissions violations.

It’s been a long time coming. The Suncor refinery has produced millions of tons of licensed pollution over the years, and some more on top of that. Its violations have been widely reported and seen in the form of flaring, soot, yellow smoke, and various other particles and toxic chemicals rising into the skies of the Denver metro area. A recent report describes its problems, most particularly human error in estimating risks in its operation practices.

The Cultivando program will use its award to set up air monitoring equipment to measure over 50 different pollutants continuously and report the results in a website for the public to review. This will be the first time in Suncor’s history that so much data will tell the pollution story. 

It’s a win for Adams and Denver counties whose residents live close to the refinery and for the entire metro area as winds and air currents move pollution around the city. It’s also a win for the refinery itself, which voted YES for the measurement portion of the Cultivando proposal. It will now have detailed, ongoing understanding of the emissions impacts of its industrial activities.

Olga Gonzalez is executive director of Cultivando. She has spent years performing community leadership training and developing health programs targeted to the Latina/o neighborhoods in the north metro region. She’s had conversations with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that houses the Air Pollution Control Division, with Suncor, and with municipal and county governments about the health conditions around the refinery.

“Our kids are suffering,” Gonzalez reports. “They get sick or have bloody noses. Or there’s an emission from the refinery and parents keep their kids at home so they don’t go outside. Parents become afraid schools will call Child Protection if they keep their children home too much.” Another problem involves any activity outside. “It’s important for people to exercise and Cultivando encourages exercise for health. But exercising outside when the air is not good is unsafe.” 

Gonzalez frequently hears from the community about the impact of the refinery, but environmental justice was not part of her background. “The community was taking the lead on this, and health and community are our mission, so I needed to learn and get involved.” 

Enter Lucy Molina, a Cultivando mentee who participated in its leadership training program. Molina worked with various environmental social justice groups interested in documenting the impact of pollution on the health of residents near the refinery. She introduced Gonzalez to science, engineering, and project management professionals retired from US federal agencies interested in improving Colorado’s notorious air quality.

At that point, putting the Cultivando proposal together became a team effort that involved building trust between her organization and its community and the “white folks who are also a part of the project.” “We’re always asked to participate in research projects, but without our voice. We treat these requests with skepticism as to who are the people and who are they trying to help.” 

Barb Mills-Bria, president of Be the Change, and other environmental and health groups coordinated with Gonzalez and Molina to find the experts, develop the detailed proposal and budget, identify resources, and locate supporters of the project. Former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm is first on the supporter list.

The key to success, Gonzalez says, is the community centeredness of the work. Too often, these types of projects work from the top down. This project will work from the community up. Schools and families will have air monitors. They will contribute to the data analysis to increase expertise and understanding of how air quality affects health and safety.

The project will put a light on a dreary problem. As William Shakespeare said, “See how far a little candle can throw its beam. So shines a good deed in a weary world.”