Suncor plans to spend $57 million to upgrade emissions, but will still fail to meet Colorado’s climate goals

Suncor Vigor is planning to spend more than million to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions at its Commerce City oil refinery but still expects to miss its deadline to eliminate enough corruption to meet Colorado s benchmark for industrial polluters Not only will the company miss its greenhouse-gas emissions deadline which is required by state law but Suncor says its Commerce City refinery never will meet Colorado s reduction demands unless the state creates a fund to help companies finance projects that would lower emissions according to a new description the company filed with the Colorado Department of Populace Healthcare and Climate Despite this major capital assets onsite reductions will be insufficient to meet Suncor s GHG emissions requirements the company s summary states Suncor s financing in five projects at its Commerce City refinery and its determination that it cannot meet the state s demands were revealed in a greenhouse-gas reduction plan posted on the state soundness department s website this month Suncor and other large industrial polluters are required to submit plans explaining how they will reduce emissions under a state rule that requires Colorado s largest industrial manufacturers to reduce their overall greenhouse-gas emissions by by Thus far eight companies have filed their plans and Suncor is one of three companies that commented it will struggle to meet the state s reduction requirements The other two are Natural Soda and American Gypsum and both wrote in their reports that while they will upgrade specific equipment it will not be enough to meet the state s pollution-reduction demands American Gypsum a drywall manufacturer in Eagle County revealed it will buy greenhouse-gas credits on Colorado s exchange sphere and alter its production to make a drywall that is a different size and thickness to reach its benchmark The credit exchange allows companies that fail to meet benchmarks to buy credits from others that successfully cut emissions and use those credits to account for their excessive contamination Natural Soda which mines and makes baking soda in Rifle reported it would also rely on the greenhouse-gas credit exchange until other device was more feasible and cost-effective The other companies that have filed greenhouse-gas reduction plans are Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan Golden Aluminum a sheet metal supplier in Fort Lupton JBS Swift Foods a meat processor in Greeley Sterling Ethanol an ethanol plant in Logan County and its sister plant Yuma Ethanol based in Yuma County Those manufacturers disclosed they will replace aging equipment and adopt new hardware to reach their goals For example the two ethanol plants will use a carbon-capture system in which carbon dioxide is collected and then sent through a pipeline to be stored deep underground Cargill s description commented it would recycle biogas created from anaerobic wastewater medication lagoons to power on-site boilers Of those eight companies Suncor is the greater part high-profile because it is one of the largest polluters in Colorado and it is close to densely populated neighborhoods in Commerce City and north Denver The refinery has been under pressure for years to clean up its facility and has been fined for repeated violations of its federal air permits which regulate how much trash it is allowed to emit each year Suncor denied The Denver Post s request for an interview about its emissions-reduction plan and sent an emailed message that repeated what the company wrote in its summary In its greenhouse-gas reduction plan Suncor says it will upgrade innovation in five areas including improving two flares also known as smokestacks that burn off gases created during the refining process Suncor is seeking state approval for one flare project that would reroute gas to a more modern stack and decommission an older -foot stack that has been in operation for years according to its plan The other measures the company is proposing include improvements to its fluidized catalytic-cracking units which help turn crude oil into gasoline and installing carbon monoxide analyzers to ensure equipment is running efficiently Those five projects will cut tons of carbon dioxide annually the analysis commented But Suncor necessities to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by tons annually to comply with state regulations its reduction plan states In Suncor s emailed declaration and in the written statement the company noted it is a pioneer in energy-efficient refining As background the Commerce City refinery has long been an energy-efficiency leader in the refining sector both among those refineries supplying Colorado and among similarly sized refineries nationwide However that declaration contradicts the findings of a Environmental Protection Agency record that mentioned the Commerce City refinery records more malfunctions that release toxic chemicals into the air than other similarly sized plants in the United States Suncor included an analysis and a letter from HSB Solomon Associates a consultant it hired to analyze and compare its Commerce City emissions to other refineries and that letter stated Suncor is the best of the best in its carbon emissions when compared against other refineries in the Rocky Mountain region As a impact of Suncor s high level of efficiency in its operations there is very little low-hanging fruit to further reduce GHGs at the Commerce City refinery the statement stated Because the company declared it cannot spend more money to meet the state s greenhouse-gas limits Suncor plans to use Colorado s new greenhouse-gas credit trading system which was created when the Air Quality Control Commission wrote regulations in that required the state s largest industrial polluters to reduce emissions That rule was created after the General Assembly passed a law aimed at improving the quality of life in neighborhoods majority of impacted by air defilement and reducing Colorado s impact on circumstances change Related Articles Colorado s new greenhouse-gas roadmap charts path toward cleaner air but advocates say it doesn t quite get there New rules for cutting emissions at Colorado natural gas facilities will be tough for everybody Colorado has a new plan to reduce greenhouse gases Critics say it fails those majority of impacted by air corruption With environmental justice at pitfall will Colorado persist despite budget cuts Trump s weakened EPA companies bid in Colorado s first greenhouse-gas credit auction criticized as pay-to-pollute scheme Colorado held its first greenhouse-gas credit auction this summer with five companies including Suncor spending on credits Those companies bought the credits because they are on track to miss the state s first deadline to reduce emissions by However state regulations prevent the disclosure of how multiple credits each company bought The Air Quality Control Commission has also inquired the state s Air Toxicity Control Division to propose a state-managed fund that would help companies pay for emissions-reducing projects That proposal is expected to be introduced to the commission in February when the state soundness department requests a hearing on it and environmentalists are expected to oppose it saying it creates a pay-to-pollute scheme that will allow Suncor and other heavy polluters to avoid making actual improvements to their facilities Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide methane nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases that trap heat in the atmosphere Those gases linger and circle the Earth causing global warming and surroundings change that brings on more severe weather such as rainstorms and intense summer heat They also impact human fitness causing respiratory and heart diseases and various cancers The manufacturers that produce these gases typically are located in communities where the people are Black Latino or Native American and earn less money than the state median income Colorado wants to eliminate of its greenhouse-gas emissions by Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter