Suncor scores another three years to leak unlimited amounts of forever chemicals into a major Colorado water system

 The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, or CDPHE, issued a long overdue Suncor permit this month. 

The permit limits the number of PFAS or forever chemicals that Suncor— a one-hundred-year-old oil refinery in the heart of Denver—  can leak into nearby Sand Creek.  

PFAS or forever chemicals can last hundreds or even thousands of years in the environment. According to the EPA,  microscopic amounts of PFAS in drinking water can cause a host of health problems, including birth defects, thyroid dysfunction, infertility, liver damage,  and kidney and testicular cancer. 

The new permit marks the first time Colorado has put any limits on the amount

of PFAS that Suncor can dump into Colorado’s water system. In addition to PFAS, the permit sets tighter limits for other toxic chemicals that Suncor discharges like benzene, selenium and arsenic. In recent years, Suncor has had to shut down its plant because it violated the permitted levels of benzene it pumps into Sand Creek five times. At one point it pumped 80% more Benzene into Sand Creek than legally allowed. 

KGNU’s Alexis Kenyon spoke with Ian Coghill, an attorney at Earthjustice. He says that while he and other advocates are glad the state has put limits on the close to 50 billion dollar oil refinery, the permit does not go far enough.