Suncor Wants to Build New Refinery in Denver
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This is a proposal that will hopefully go nowhere fast. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Suncor Energy is considering building a new oil refinery in north Denver.
With a new refinery comes more air pollution, including more cancer-causing benzene and other toxic pollutants. Already, the Suncor refinery spews out nearly 100,000 pounds of air toxics, including 198 pounds of benzene, over 11,000 pounds of propylene, and over 4,000 pounds of ammonia. What's more, the refinery releases over 2,600,00 pounds of smog forming pollution annually, in addition to over 1,000,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide.
For the families living near the refineries, this is not good news. For that matter, this is terrible news for anyone living in the Denver metro area.
While the Rocky frames this as potentially good for the "gasoline supply," this is not the way to solve any gasoline supply problem. With the Denver metro area investing in alternative transportation projects like FasTracks, more sustainable transportation solutions like bicycling, and projects like the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition moving forward, simply flooding the market with more gasoline is outdated and misguided.
The problem isn't a lack of gasoline, it's the fact that we've left ourselves with no other option. It's time to change this paradigm, starting with rejecting any idea of a new refinery in Denver.
In more ways than one, a new refinery for Denver is a terrible idea. Hopefully Suncor will wake up, smell the benzene, and kill the idea itself. If not, Suncor can be assured that citizens will not allow a new refinery to be built in Denver.
With a new refinery comes more air pollution, including more cancer-causing benzene and other toxic pollutants. Already, the Suncor refinery spews out nearly 100,000 pounds of air toxics, including 198 pounds of benzene, over 11,000 pounds of propylene, and over 4,000 pounds of ammonia. What's more, the refinery releases over 2,600,00 pounds of smog forming pollution annually, in addition to over 1,000,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide.
For the families living near the refineries, this is not good news. For that matter, this is terrible news for anyone living in the Denver metro area.
While the Rocky frames this as potentially good for the "gasoline supply," this is not the way to solve any gasoline supply problem. With the Denver metro area investing in alternative transportation projects like FasTracks, more sustainable transportation solutions like bicycling, and projects like the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition moving forward, simply flooding the market with more gasoline is outdated and misguided.
The problem isn't a lack of gasoline, it's the fact that we've left ourselves with no other option. It's time to change this paradigm, starting with rejecting any idea of a new refinery in Denver.
In more ways than one, a new refinery for Denver is a terrible idea. Hopefully Suncor will wake up, smell the benzene, and kill the idea itself. If not, Suncor can be assured that citizens will not allow a new refinery to be built in Denver.
posted by Jeremy Nichols @ 3:38 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Um, Chris? I live in Denver (close to Suncor) and I don't want Benzine in my air. I'm not an enviornmentalist and I don't give much credance to your brand of sh*t either. I just would prefer to have my air minus Benzine. "Pathetic little parade" it might be but I doubt you'd be the first one to line up your family to be chemically rained on by an oil refinery. I drive by every day and can smell their chemical venting. I don't know what the hell it is and I don't care. I don't give a sh*t about you and what you want to breathe. I prefer my air clean.
A friend of mine recently passed away from leukemia. It's believed that it was related to benzine exposure when he lived near the Suncor refinery.
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