
By Phil Doe
There have been several recent articles and reports in local papers lamenting the loss of outgoing EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker, and what her loss is likely to mean with regard to making the infamous Suncor refinery comply with the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA).
Suncor has been out of compliance with the CAA for over a decade. Becker’s actions undoubtedly provided momentary relief from citizen conviction that government elites work almost exclusively for the moneyed interests. Frankly, she was fighting with her hands tied.
The 75-year-old CAA is a rickety remnant of the past. It has never undergone significant modernization — the last major update was in 1990 — and is in no way adequate to fight the climate crisis. Becker was forced to fight a civilization-devouring monster with a peashooter.
Still, good for her. She fought with the only weapon she had.
Becker may deserve greater recognition for her leadership as a state legislator. She was instrumental in passage of the Colorado Oil and Gas Reform Act in 2019.
Unlike the CAA, the 2019 reform act takes a holistic approach with no polluter escape hatches allowed. It simply declares that on all issues oil and gas in this state, public health and the environment must be protected against substantial harm. This is a true break from most state and federal environmental laws, because, for once, public wellbeing and the planet come before private gain.
Even our market-worshiping governor — upon signing the bill into law as one of his first official acts in 2019 — said it represented a sea change, the “most sweeping oil and gas reforms in Colorado history.”
Unfortunately, the Polis administration has seen to it that this “sea change” has created not the slightest ripple of consequence in state oil regulation. This administration has approved almost 8,000 new oil wells, according to an ongoing monthly count by volunteers with progressive activist group Be The Change, with only a few being rejected.
In deciding whether or not to renew Suncor’s permits to pollute, what if the requirements of the state’s 2019 reform act were combined with the limited requirements of the outdated CAA? What excuse would the Polis administration have to keep it going? I think the answer is already known.
Local citizens such as Lucy Molina, Nikie Wells and Renee Chacon, people speaking out in recent reports, are the message bearers. They say they are being killed by Suncor. The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed this conclusion when its 2023 examination showed the area around the refinery had some of the worst air quality in the nation and that public health was being sacrificed as a result. Suncor has exceeded its pollution permits over 9,000 times in the last five years, according to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups last year.
Cultivando, a local Latino health advocacy group, found that PM 2.5 (soot) from Suncor exceeded the federal standard all the time, sometimes by factors in the thousands. PM 2.5 kills an estimated 8 million people annually. Cultivando’s air quality study measured over 50 dangerous pollutants, including cancer-causing benzene and radioactive particles. Their noted toxicologist said that the synergistic effects of all these chemicals were cumulative as to their health consequences and that if he had a pregnant daughter, he would not let her live anywhere near Suncor.
It is time the Polis administration stopped hiding behind the CAA and started protecting people. State law requires it. Simple decency demands it.
Phllip Doe is a retired federal employee, a featured whistleblower on 60 Minutes and is a frequent writer for the online magazine CounterPunch. He presently serves as the environmental director for Be the Change Colorado. He can be reached at [email protected]