Colorado and Suncor Reach Deal on Air Emissions at Commerce City Refinery — OPIS

Colorado regulators and Canadian energy company Suncor reached an air pollution settlement on Monday that appears to open the door for continued operations at the company's 98,000 b/d Commerce City refinery near Denver.

Under the deal, Suncor will pay $10.5 million to resolve numerous releases of toxic chemicals over a three-year period. The payment includes $2.5 million in fines and $8 million in expenditures to improve operations at the refinery.

The refinery has become a symbol of sorts for the environmental justice movement. There have been some efforts to force the facility, Colorado's only refinery, to close. Various emissions at Commerce City disproportionately affect the local population, which includes a sizable percentage of Native American and Hispanic residents.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also reached an agreement with Suncor for improved air monitoring along the property's borders. Suncor will be required to install monitoring equipment that will test air for hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide, benzene and other compounds.

The settlement is important given that the Suncor refinery will be counted on to provide much of the reformulated blendstock that will be used to create 10% ethanol reformulated gasoline this spring and summer.

Much of the Rocky Mountain front range will be required to use low-RFP reformulated gasoline during the ozone season. It's not clear whether refiners who move gasoline on the Magellan Pipeline system or via the Yellowstone Pipeline will be able to hit the tough RVP standards.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Tom Kloza, tkloza@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2024 15:31 ET (20:31 GMT)

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