Toxic pollution threatens our health
Why these Coloradans are fighting for limits on toxic air pollution
A hotspot of elevated cancer risk hovers over parts of Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and Arvada, where a nearby medical sterilization company releases the carcinogen ethylene oxide into the air. The pollutant is invisible and undetectable, but it is responsible for an elevated risk of cancer above the EPA’s acceptable level.
“It’s scary to realize that there are dangerous pollutants we don’t even know about in the air our families are breathing every day. And it feels like there’s not much I can do as a mom to protect my kids from that.”
– Jessica Barnette, Lakewood
In Pueblo, residents can see the smokestacks from the steel mill, cement plant, the state’s largest coal-fired power plant, and other polluting industries. But they still don’t know how much lead or mercury is in their air.
“Pueblo has a history of being used as a sacrifice zone for bottom-of-the-barrel polluting industries … But a lot of people here don’t know how dangerous the air is, because the information is obscured.”
– Jamie Valdez, Pueblo
People in North Denver and Commerce City must live with the putrid odor emitted by the nearby oil refinery, but they’ve had to fight for fenceline monitoring to know what other toxic substances are leaking out along with the smell.
“The saddest thing for me is when someone says, Oh, you live in Commerce City, where it smells bad and you have to buy drinking water.”
– Maria Zubiate, Commerce City
And neighbors of oil and gas operations around the state, from Greeley to Parachute, must contend with the possibility that benzene and other volatile organic compounds may be emitted in high enough concentrations to cause cancer.
“The fact that the air quality could potentially endanger our lives or our health is very concerning. It’s unbelievable to me that it’s even a debate whether we have clean air.” – Yurixhi Toro, Greeley
These problems facing communities across Colorado have a common thread: they’re all caused by toxic air pollution.
The federal government has identified 188 “hazardous air pollutants,” toxic substances that can be damaging to inhale even in small concentrations, including chemicals like benzene, hydrogen cyanide, chromium, and ethylene oxide. They can cause cancer or serious health impacts such as breathing difficulty, nausea, birth defects, or even premature death. While many of our air quality problems are regional (like ozone) or even global (like climate change-causing greenhouse gasses), toxic air pollution is a hyperlocal problem. It impacts neighborhoods closest to steel plants, medical sterilizers, oil refineries, oil and gas operations, and other industries that—due to the legacy racial segregation—are often located closest to Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other communities of color.
In most cases, people living in these communities don’t have an easy way of knowing whether they’re breathing in unsafe levels of a toxic contaminant. Despite the dangers of toxic pollution, Colorado doesn’t have a comprehensive program to regulate these pollutants. The state has not set standards to limit or even monitor air toxics based on what is best for our health. Instead, we’ve been relying on industry to monitor itself and set its own limits based on the best available technology. That approach has failed, leaving communities in the dark about their own health.
That’s why Conservation Colorado is fighting to pass HB22-1244, which addresses the gaps in our state’s ability to regulate industries and protect the public from toxic air contaminants. The bill charges our state’s air quality officials with identifying high-risk toxics based on their health impacts. They’ll then establish health-based standards to limit the emissions of these toxics and prevent adverse health impacts. They’ll also create better monitoring systems so we can measure how much toxic pollution is in our air, especially in communities adjacent to industry.
All Coloradans deserve to know what’s in the air that they are breathing so that they can be confident in their own health. Below, we hear from some of the Coloradans who are ready for change.
As we already know, last year due to the wildfires we had the number one worst air quality in the world. This worries me as a resident of Commerce City, because we have the Suncor refinery that makes our air smell very bad. I also lived in Brighton, where oil and gas extraction complicates the contamination in the air. It saddens me that during the covid pandemic, we can’t have clean air to protect our health. Clean air is essential, and if we can’t have that, what is going to happen to us? This is why we need to pass HB1244, to protect our communities from air toxics.
“My family lives in Greeley, and the fact that the air quality could potentially endanger our lives or our health is very concerning. It’s unbelievable to me that it’s even a debate whether we have clean air, so that we can have a better quality of life, so that we can have health. Our leaders need to pass legislation so that Colorado can finally monitor and reduce the toxic pollution in our communities.”
Pueblo has a history of being used as a sacrifice zone for bottom-of-the-barrel polluting industries. The health impacts are generational. I dealt with childhood asthma growing up in Pueblo. Now, so does my grandson. It bothers me when we’re out in the yard, playing catch or riding bikes, and I hear him coughing because he can’t breathe. I know the truth about polluters, but a lot of people here don’t know how dangerous the air is, because the information is obscured. We need better air quality monitoring and comprehensive air toxics protections that don’t leave us behind because of loopholes. I urge our leaders to act now and pass HB22-1244.
“When I was doing my graduate studies in Pueblo in the 1970’s, that’s when the steel mill was kicking out the most of its pollution. I mean, it was bad. Four o’clock in the morning, when everyone was asleep, they would start shooting that stuff out, and it was like tear gas in those communities in the Lower East Side. Back when I did a socioeconomic study on Pueblo for my thesis, that area was like a wasteland, and it still is. Fifty years later, Pueblo is still the dumping ground for toxic air pollution.”
“As a nurse, a mom, and a prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher, I care a lot about the health of our children. Breathing clean air is vital to childrens’ health, but I’m worried that kids and families across Colorado are at risk. Last summer, there were several days where the air quality was so bad that I had to cancel my outdoor yoga classes, since pollution can be especially harmful to pregnant women, babies, and young children. Asthma runs in my own family, so I’ve tried to be super careful about protecting my children by installing air monitors and filters in our house.
But recently, I found out there was a facility very close to where we live in Lakewood that was emitting toxic contaminants causing a higher risk of cancer. It’s scary to realize that there are dangerous pollutants we don’t even know about in the air our families are breathing every day. And it feels like there’s not much I can do as a mom to protect my kids from that.”
“Colorado’s air has become so bad. We don’t even know what particles are in our air, but they can get into our lungs. I am prone to allergic asthma, and when we have bad air quality days, I cannot go outside or even open the window. If I do, I’ll start feeling congested, getting nosebleeds, and it only gets worse. When we had record ozone pollution and wildfire smoke last summer, I was scared to even go out for a walk, even though exercising is essential for my health. Between covid and air pollution, I felt trapped.
The Suncor oil refinery is only a few miles from my house in Thornton. These industries are not only polluting the water and the land, but the air. How can we trust them to monitor their own pollution that they make money off of? The monitoring has to be done by independent agencies. Our legislators need to pass HB22-1244 to create a comprehensive program to monitor toxic air pollution and protect our health.”
“I think it’s a human right to know what you’re breathing.
I had left the Front Range for Salida in 1998. I moved back in 2015 thinking it was the same place I’d left. It was really surprising to me how much worse the air quality had gotten, how many more high ozone days we were having now. Here in Wheat Ridge, the rush hour fumes are so bad, I can’t enjoy simple things like open windows in the evenings.
As a climate advocate, I testified on HB21-1189, last year’s air toxics bill. It freaked me out to find out there was a medical sanitation plant in Lakewood that releases ethylene oxide, a carcinogen, into the air. I had no idea that this plant was operating so close to the high school. The company argued that if they reduced pollution, they’d go out of business. It really was profit versus people. I was dissapointed at the ease at which money can influence public health. Call me naive, but I think the legislature should look at public health as their primary responsibility.
So I vowed to fight this year for a comprehensive air toxics program like the one in HB22-1244. It’s not about taking down one particular industry or facility. It’s about protecting our human rights. We need to find out what the combination of all of those sources are causing our communities to breathe.”
“High housing costs have pushed our Latino community out of the Roaring Fork Valley towards Silt, Rifle, and Parachute—where the homes are more affordable, but where there is also oil and gas activity very close to neighborhoods.
It’s a health and safety issue. Many Latino folks have wells basically in their backyards. But when the air starts to smell bad, or when they experience difficulty breathing, they don’t know where to turn for help. There’s a lack of information in Spanish and so many bureaucratic barriers to filing complaints.
Our local authorities are too friendly with the oil and gas industry. They’ve failed to protect our air and our health, so we need regulation at a state level. Otherwise, our communities will continue to sacrifice their health while somebody who doesn’t have to live nearby gets the profit.”
“When I moved to this area of Commerce City next to Suncor, I thought this was the perfect place for my family. There was a new high school on Quebec Street and a park behind my house. But it smells like rotten eggs here, all the time. My son started getting bloody noses. My daughter started getting stomach aches. They started missing a lot of school. My mom, who is a diabetic, kept getting more sick. At first I thought it was my fault. When I realized Suncor was making us sick, I looked at everything in a whole new light. There was a murderer next to me.
So I started going to events. I started talking to these scientists, sociologists, and doctors. I learned about how fracking was hurting the children in the whiter neighborhoods up north. I thought, my community has been a sacrifice zone for pollution for 70 years and no one ever seemed to care. But I wasn’t going to wait for someone to tell me what to do about this. I speak two languages, thanks to God, and I’m gonna use my voice until I die.
I started knocking on doors. I started making a stink at the local city council, and then testifying in commissions and boards. I ran for office.
We’ve changed policies. We’ve elected leaders that know how their communities are being impacted, who can bring bold policies to protect them. I am proud to say Colorado has an opportunity to become leaders in this movement on a national and global manner. People are looking to us on environmental justice.
But we are running out of time and industries are banking on human misery. Self-regulation does not work. They’ve been doing that for decades, and that’s why we don’t trust our government entities that have allowed these industries to poison us. The only way we can fight them is through policy and the law. I always say, the problem is where the solution lies—we are the solution.”
