Suncor’s Refinery Notification System Is Not a Public Health Tool

Posted May 14, 2026

At 1:05 p.m. on Monday, as thick black smoke from the Suncor Refinery in Commerce City blanketed the Denver metro area, and Brighton Boulevard was shut down for a fire investigation, residents who had signed up for Suncor’s community notification system received this message:

Suncor refinery notification – May 11, 2026, 1:05 PM MDT

Increased smoke and flaring may be visible at Commerce City operations. No action by the public is required. Go to www.Suncor.com/Colorado for more information.”

That is the entirety of what Suncor communicated during an active fire at its facilities. No explanation of what occurred. No identification of what chemicals were being emitted. No guidance for sensitive populations (including infants and children, older adults, pregnant people, and those with other chronic and acute illnesses). No direction to shelter in place, close windows, or limit outdoor activity. Simply, “no action required.”

This pattern of limited information leading to more uncertainty is not new. A review of Suncor’s notification history shows this language is an automatic template, reused incident after incident, regardless of severity. The same phrase, ‘no action by the public is required,’ appeared in notifications on May 8, April 14, and in multiple prior incidents going back years. A system that is intended to inform the public has instead been used to reassure them without evidence, and without transparency, that these emissions pose no risk to their health.

Upon learning of this event, Cultivando immediately contacted the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), requesting urgent answers: what occurred and what was emitted; how the state is independently verifying that emissions pose no health risk; and what protective actions residents should take.

As of this press release, CDPHE’s response to Cultivando was that the agency was ‘gathering information’ and would be ‘back in touch soon,’ with no timeline, no acknowledgment of what occurred, and no health guidance for the community.

“This is not the first time Commerce City has faced this pattern,” said Guadalupe at Cultivando, “Suncor was fined more than $10.5 million by the state in 2024 for chronic permit violations, the largest such enforcement action in Colorado history.” Just ten days ago, on May 1, 2026, CDPHE published the Colorado Refinery Report identifying further opportunities to reduce emissions at the facility. Yet, when the community needs information the most, they receive a single vague sentence telling them everything is fine.

Cultivando is calling on CDPHE, Suncor, and elected officials to immediately:

Disclose what was emitted today, including chemicals, quantities, and duration;
Provide independent air quality data from monitoring stations near the affected community;
Reform the public notification system to include validated and specific, health-protective information whenever an incident occurs;
Explain what enforcement action will follow today’s event.

Cultivando is an organization that cultivates the leadership of the Latino community in order to promote health equity through advocacy, collaboration and social change.