EPA objects to Suncor’s air-pollution permit for second time

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced that it objects to one of Suncor Energy’s new air-quality permits and kicked it back to Colorado environmental regulators to make changes that would further limit pollution coming from the Commerce City refinery.

It is the second time the EPA has rejected the Title V air permit for Suncor’s Plant 2, which refines oil into gasoline and other fuels. The objection does not mean the plant has to shut down, and Suncor can continue operating under its old permit until the new one is resolved.

The objection comes after multiple environmental groups, led by EarthJustice and 350 Colorado, filed petitions last fall asking the EPA to reconsider the permit because it did not do enough to limit Suncor’s pollution.

The EPA is directing the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to determine whether additional operational requirements are needed to make sure Suncor complies with limits on the emission of carbon monoxide and particulate matter from Plant 2’s fluid catalytic cracking unit, which is used to convert crude oil to petroleum products such as gasoline, according to a news release.

The federal agency also wants the state health department to revisit previous modifications made to equipment at the plant and determine whether new requirements should be put in place, the news release said.

Suncor’s air permit for Plant 2, which sets the amount of various pollutants the refinery is allowed to release into the air, is long overdue. The permit was issued in 2006 and last revised in 2009. The permits are supposed to be renewed every five years, but the state health department, which first must write the permit before sending it to the EPA for approval, was behind in its permitting process.

The EPA already objected once to the Plant 2 permit after it was submitted on Feb. 9, 2022. The agency sent the permit back to the health department, saying it was not in compliance with the Clean Air Act and ordered Colorado regulators to try again.

In that objection, the EPA wanted the state to monitor three sites where Suncor uses flares to burn off excess chemicals. Originally, the Air Pollution Control Division, which is under the health department’s oversight, wanted to exempt those flares from regular monitoring, but the EPA wanted more analysis to justify those exemptions.

The state then developed specific monitoring plans for flaring sites at Plant 2, a truck loading dock and a railcar loading site, and the EPA accepted the changes.

But environmental groups still argued the latest version of the permit did not meet Clean Air Act requirements and asked the EPA to reconsider. And in a 99-page response released Tuesday, the EPA agreed.

The Commerce City site has two air permits, and the one that regulates Plants 1 and 3 remains under review by the EPA. The refinery also has an overdue water-quality permit that is under consideration by the state, and environmentalists are pushing for tougher restrictions on PFAS discharges into Sand Creek.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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