Magellan Pipeline Co. wants to expand near Commerce City school

A pipeline company is seeking approval to enlarge its gasoline storage facility north of Denver, an expansion that would increase the pollution spilled into the air near an elementary school in a neighborhood already considered one of the most polluted in Colorado.

Many in the community — including elected officials and leading environmental advocates — say they didn’t know about Magellan Pipeline Company’s proposed expansion across the street from Dupont Elementary School in unincorporated Adams County.

They’re frustrated about a lack of communication about the plans from the company and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division, which is charged with assessing the permit and either approving, rejecting or modifying it.

Multiple people interviewed by The Denver Post said they were not aware of the project until they were contacted by a reporter.

“Not only has Magellan failed to reach out to us, but CDPHE — the regulatory agency — has not reached out to us. Quite frankly, that’s disgusting,” said Joe Salazar, chief legal counsel for the Adams 14 School District, which includes Dupont Elementary.

The Magellan project is one of three proposed or completed expansions by oil and gas facilities in Adams County, and all three fall under Colorado’s Environmental Justice Act, meaning an assessment of community impact must be performed as part of the application process.

The applications will be a major test of the new law, passed by the state legislature in 2021. People already are worried the requested expansions will be approved, allowing more pollution to be released. Environmental advocates were critical of how the state crafted the environmental justice rules when they were finalized in 2023.

“It’s another example of how children in our community, who are supposed to be our priority, who are supposed to be our future, are sacrificed for oil, for gasoline, for profit,” said Guadalupe Solís, environmental justice programs director at Cultivando, a grassroots organization that advocates for clean air and better health in Commerce City and north Denver.

Kate Malloy, a spokeswoman for the Air Pollution Control Division, said the applications were in the early stages and public comment periods will be held in the future, although it was too early to say when that would be.

“We will absolutely communicate with the community when we have something for them to review,” she said. “All this is extremely preliminary.”

Magellan says it needs to expand its Dupont Terminal at 8160 Krameria St. so it can store reformulated gasoline — a special blend required in the Front Range from June to September to reduce ozone pollution, according to a permit application filed with the Air Pollution Control Division. The company wants to build five more storage tanks — 20 already are on site —  that would lead to an increase in the emission of volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene and other hazardous air pollutants.

Annell Morrow, a spokeswoman for Oneok, Magellan’s parent company, said the project meets all federal, state and local air quality requirements. The company plans to install a system that minimizes vapor space in the storage tanks and reduces potential hazardous emissions.

“This expanded storage will allow Magellan to help better meet the increasing fuel needs of the expanding Denver metro area,” she said.

Holly Energy Partners, which also says the reformulated gasoline requirement is the reason behind its proposed expansion, is asking to increase the amount of gasoline it pumps through its terminal at 8581 E. 96th Ave. in Henderson. Holly Energy’s application includes a request to increase emissions of volatile organic compounds up to 12.6 tons per year, nitrogen oxides up to 10.1 tons per year, and carbon monoxide up to 25.1 tons per year.

The Magellan and Holly Energy projects remain under review at the Air Pollution Control Division, Malloy said. There is no timeline for when they will be completed.

Suncor Energy also expanded its Commerce City oil refinery operations to accommodate the reformulated gas requirement, spending $45 million to be able to make and store the special blend. As a result, the refinery’s emissions of volatile organic compounds increased 0.81 tons in the past year, according to state data.

Concerns about Environmental Justice Act

Adams County Commissioner Steve O’Dorisio has raised questions about all three projects because of their location in an area that already suffers from too much pollution. But he said he is particularly concerned about the plans to build more gas storage near the elementary school.

“This project is a perfect example of forcing one community to bear the burdens for everyone else,” O’Dorisio said. “And that is what all these environmental justice efforts were supposed to address.”

The reformulated gas is supposed to help the nine-county northern Front Range region reduce summer air pollution because it releases fewer toxins when it burns in automobile engines. But O’Dorisio said it’s not fair for Adams County to breathe dirtier air to benefit everyone else.

The lack of communication from Magellan and Colorado regulators causes people to lose confidence in state and federal agencies that are supposed to look out for their best interests, he said.

“I’d like to know how all of this talk about improving environmental justice actually creates outcomes rather than just talk,” he said. “And if projects like this are allowed to expand emissions for the already underrepresented neighborhoods under the premise that it benefits the whole region, then I’m not sure we are meeting the intended outcomes.”

Magellan filed its application to expand with the Air Pollution Control Division in September. The division continues to review the application and the impact an expansion would have on the environment.

Already, the pipeline and storage tanks emit pollutants into the air.

On its application for the expansion, Magellan said the additional five tanks would release 16.5 tons per year of volatile organic compounds, which combine with nitrogen oxides on hot summer days to form a smog that blankets the region.

The tanks also would release benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene — all chemicals that cause various human health problems such as breathing difficulty, eye and nose irritation and inflammation.

Adams 14 school officials already worry about how much air pollution impacts students’ academic performances, Salazar said. Last April, the Suncor refinery released an excessive amount of pollution the same day students were taking district-wide exams, he said.

Last school year, 314 of the district’s 5,219 students suffered from asthma, according to data from Kids First Health Care, a nonprofit that provides services to students.

Children living in Commerce City have a 22% higher rate of emergency department admissions for asthma compared to the county overall, and Adams County has higher youth emergency room admissions for asthma than the state average, according to data from the Adams County Health Department.

“We are disproportionately impacted by pollution in this district and Magellan expanding would be a concern to us,” Salazar said.

“We already know our air is contaminated”

Rufina Contreras, who lives about a mile from the Magellan site and whose 13-year-old son attended Dupont Elementary, said she is concerned about air pollution throughout her neighborhood. Residents already breathe dirty air due to pollution from the Suncor refinery and a nearby gravel pit, she said.

On July 11, as temperatures approached 100 degrees, Contreras said her eyes were watery and she suspected it was ozone pollution, which blanketed the region during the recent heat wave. Her family often complains of a foul order that seeps into their home in the evenings and they don’t know what causes it. She has friends who suffer from asthma and complain about frequent nose bleeds.

Contreras hopes the state denies the Magellan expansion.

“They should deny it because we already know our air is contaminated,” she said. “We already know that what’s in the air is making us sick.”

Renee Chacon, who leads the environmental group Womxn from the Mountain and is a Commerce City council member, said residents need to know how the expansion projects will impact people’s health in an already polluted zip code.

“There needs to be a health assessment and analysis when industry wants to do something like this,” Chacon said. “And then to add insult to injury, it’s across the street from an elementary school.”