WildEarth Guardians today put Suncor Energy on notice that it intends to file suit against the company over thousands of clean air violations at the company’s oil refinery in the Denver Metro Area.
Every year, Suncor’s refinery spews out more than 900,000 tons of toxic air pollution, including benzene, hydrogen cyanide, lead, hydrogen sulfide, and methane.
The refinery is also a major contributor to the Denver Metro Area’s brown cloud and summertime ground-level ozone problem. In 2019, high ozone levels were recorded throughout the Denver Metro Area.
The company’s own monitoring reports show the refinery violated its pollution limits at least 2,750 times between December 31, 2018 and June 30, 2019. The violations come amid growing controversy over the refinery and calls for it to shut down.
“The Suncor oil refinery is a clean air disaster, putting public health in the Denver Metro Area at extreme risk,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “We’ve had enough of the company’s blatant and ongoing air quality violations, it’s time to clean up this dirty refinery once and for all.”
Read the press release.
