“Adults in the room” won the state’s primaries, mainly on the Democratic side of the aisle, according to most pundits. That’s good news for state policy and economic interests, according to these pundits. There’s one problem with the pundits’ exhortation: aren’t adults supposed to use their reason to predict and remediate public health contaminations, especially when they’ve been foreseen for at least a decade?

When “adults in the room” know there are contaminations but do nothing to protect the public, they are no longer “adults in the room.” They are “Let’s-Stick-It-to-the-People” people. Today, “sticking it to the people” is too often the default position of adults in the room, especially in the energy industry.

On July 2, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) issued another Notice of Violation (NOV) to Canadian-owned Suncor, the state’s only oil and gas refinery. According to an environmental coalition that has filed suit against the state related to Suncor’s ongoing violations, the refinery has 9,205 documented cases of breaches of various environmental regulations, consent decrees and permits since 2019. Now the coalition can add one more notice of multiple violations to its list.

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Despite fines issued by the EPA and the CDPHE that amount to nearly $20 million over five years, Suncor, with its roughly $6 billion in 2023 profits, continues to send harmful pollutants into the air. Much of the previous fine money was returned to Suncor based on agreements to fix its problems. The most recent notice indicates past violations aren’t fixed, and new violations have occurred. In these cases, the noxious pollutants emitted from Suncor’s facilities continue to plague some of the poorest neighborhoods in the metro area as well as the rest of the metro area in some slightly diluted form.

Joint EPA and CDPHE violation notations include 10 citations of various sections of the national Clean Air Act, permit agreements and consent decrees. The CDPHE has added two more state-specific violations for a total of 12 breaches. This NOV is the first step in a violation process. Now the company has 30 days to put up its excuses.

The NOV specifies air quality protection requirements and how Suncor has violated these regulations. Let’s take the dangerous pollutant benzene as an example.

Benzene is generally colorless, sweet smelling and highly flammable. It “causes cells not to work correctly,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People who breathe in benzene can be subject to these immediate maladies: drowsiness, dizziness, rapid or irregular heartbeat, headaches, tremors, confusion and unconsciousness. At very high levels, death can result.

The NOV states the following about Suncor’s benzene control: “Benzene waste operations at Suncor: Emissions Units that Suncor Reports as Controlled… Are Actually Uncontrolled.” The report then cites instances of uncontrolled events on their inspection days. Ultimately, EPA inspectors found at least 20 leaking benzene components at the refinery. A question for adults in the room: is Suncor’s management intentionally misleading regulators in their reports?

EPA inspectors found visible cracks in ground concrete that allowed VOC emissions. There were cracks in the outer walls of concrete tanks creating stains, gas odor and emissions ranging from 1,800 parts per million (ppm) to 2,900 ppm. One crack produced emissions of 30,000 ppm. If EPA inspectors could see the cracks, certainly Suncor employees could as well.

Suncor uses carbon canisters to control emissions from Dissolved Gas Flotation (DGF) tanks. Camera inspections revealed this emission control method wasn’t working. Inspectors then performed additional measures and discovered zero emission efficiency achieved by “secondary carbon canisters.” In related problems, Suncor is not monitoring its carbon canisters frequently enough to achieve 100% efficiency of pollution capture, and thus is not replacing “breakthrough” canisters within 24 hours of breakthrough occurrences.

This review is a much-abbreviated statement of Suncor’s continued violations of the Clean Air Act and state regulations.

Legislators ran five bills in the 2024 session that specifically dealt with improving air quality by addressing pollution emissions. Two bills, HB24-1338 and HB24-1339, specifically addressed pollution in “disproportionately impacted” communities such as Commerce City and north Denver where the refinery is located. The five bills were all killed in either House or Senate Finance Committees or Appropriations. The bills faced enormous opposition from business lobbying groups including county economic councils and the Colorado and Denver metro chambers of commerce. County economic councils opposed bills that their home counties supported.

The cities of Boulder, Broomfield and Denver along with Adams County Commissioners and County Commissioners Acting Together supported the air quality bills.

Rep. Mike Weissman of Aurora sponsored HB24-1339, Disproportionately Impacted Community Air Pollution. The bill had 92 lobbying opposition entries to 30 lobbying support entries. It was killed in House Appropriations.

Weissman, who is now seeking a seat in the Colorado Senate, won his primary despite  hundreds of thousands of dollars spent against his candidacy. But that’s the kind of money that comes into play when legislators who apparently aren’t among “adults in the room” put up legislation to support the public health of their constituents. So much for “adulthood.”

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.