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Suncor SEP Process Update
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Summary and Background Information:
On March 6, 2020, The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) announced a $9 million settlement for State and Federal air pollution violations at the Suncor refinery in Commerce City. The settlement addresses many events where Suncor emitted pollutants over set limits as well as violations relating to requirements of how facilities are operated and monitored. These events occurred since July 2017, including a significant increase in violations that occurred during the period from January through June 2019. The settlement also includes penalties for the “operational upset” and other violations that happened in December 2019. $2,624,100 of this settlement will be used for the State’s Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) to benefit the surrounding communities. The formal Request for Applications (RFA) was released on November 2, 2020, with a deadline to receive submittals by December 31, 2020 at 5:00PM. A detailed overview of the state SEP process can be found here
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The city engaged in multiple forms of public outreach to receive feedback from the community as to what topics the City should focus on in its submission for state SEP funds, as well as soliciting project ideas directly from the community. The following efforts were conducted during the City’s evaluation process for project ideas:
? - Development of a community information page hosted at ,
? - A remote town hall hosted on August 13
? - Two community surveys that were open throughout the month of August and two weeks in December, respectively
? - City Council study session held on September 14th to receive feedback on project concepts
? - Listening session with Cultivando held on December 9th
Based on the various forms of feedback staff received during this process, City staff began movin...
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