By Sam Brasch and Tegan Wendland
Large smoke plumes billowed from the Suncor Energy refinery in Commerce City on Monday, alarming nearby residents and others across metro Denver.
The smoke and flaring were due to an electrical outage at the facility, according to Suncor spokesperson Marcelina Johanson.
“A third-party electrical power issue resulted in a power outage at our Commerce City operations and the safe shutdown of units,” Johanson wrote. “There will be increased flaring while we work to restart our operations, which may include increased noise and visible smoke.”
Johanson added that local air monitoring networks “did not detect any air levels above acute health reference guidelines during this event.”
Fire trucks were on scene responding to the fire as Commerce City police closed Brighton Boulevard, and sirens blared alerts.
"It was incredibly large. The opaque color is incredibly black, and the flare is at least triple the (size of) last time,” said former Commerce City councilmember and founder of Womxn from the Mountain, Renee Millard-Chacon. “This is not normal. This should not become normal."
She said Suncor informed residents that some type of testing was taking place, but she suspected something was amiss at the plant due to the size of the flares.
During the incident, Suncor called local fire officials to say they’d lost power and didn’t need any additional assistance, according to EMS radio traffic recordings.
Maria Carabajal, a spokesperson for the South Adams County Fire Department, confirmed her department has some units on the scene but deferred all other questions to Suncor. State air quality officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CPR News.
The incident comes less than a month after another flaring incident at Colorado’s only oil and gas refinery. In that case, state health officials told media outlets the event occurred after an electrical issue led to a shutdown. Suncor later sent officials a report confirming it released far more carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide than allowed under its current air quality permit.
Environmental activists and community groups have raised the alarm about poor air quality around Suncor for years. After years of repeated incidents, a coalition of environmental groups is working to revive a lawsuit pushing for stricter fines and other enforcement measures against the Canadian oil-and-gas giant.
Ishan Thakore contributed reporting.
