Oral arguments begin in lawsuit against Suncor's Colorado refinery in Commerce City
By Rachel Smith
Environmental groups said the state of Colorado is not doing enough to stop ongoing pollution violations from the Suncor refinery. Earthjustice, Colorado GreenLatinos, Sierra Club and others made that argument in federal court Wednesday as they tried to reinstate a 2024 lawsuit.
The U.S. District Court in Denver had previously dismissed the case, agreeing with Suncor that Colorado has been enforcing pollution laws and that citizen groups had no right to intervene. The groups then appealed, arguing that the Clean Air Act gives citizens the right to demand enforcement.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of citizen who live near Suncor claims that state regulators are turning a blind eye to severe contamination in low-income neighborhoods around the Commerce City refinery.
"Suncor Refinery has been violating its air limits for decades and what the government has been doing thus far hasn't been working, and so the communities needed to step in and try to fix the problem with the refinery," Ian Coghill, an attorney for Earthjustice told CBS Colorado outside of court.
The state has fined Suncor millions for air pollution violations in recent years but the environmental groups say those penalties have amounted to "useless slaps on the wrist."
Earthjustice attorney Kirti Datla argued in court that current enforcement is not an effective deterrent for the violations and Suncor views the fines merely as "the cost of doing business."
Datla said that not allowing the lawsuit to proceed violates the rights of citizens who live around the refinery.
"Our clients will suffer. [They] are checking air quality alerts before they allow their children to play outside, before they decide to open the windows in their homes. We think congress enacted the citizen supervision precisely so they wouldn't be helpless in situations like this." said Datla.
Notices from state regulators have shown the Suncor refinery continues to emit benzene, sulfur dioxide and other potentially harmful chemicals above allowed limits.
Suncor's private attorney argued those notices and consent decrees from the state are evidence of the state's diligence. Hugh Gottschalk said that the court should defer to the discretion of the state and uphold the lawsuit's dismissal.
"If citizens can file suit in order to seek civil penalties that the administrator chose to forgo, the administrator's discretion to enforce the act the in the public interest will be curtailed considerably. That's exactly why we believe this court should defer to the expertise of the agencies," said Gottschalk.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will now decide whether the dismissal of the lawsuit will stand or send the case back to district court for a trial on the merits of the lawsuit.
