“In drafting their long-disputed permit renewal for Suncor Energy’s refinery in Commerce City, state air pollution officials used the same 2010 internal guidance memo that they recently “retired” after whistleblowers called the memo illegal and protested it with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General, permitting records show.
The state should redo Suncor’s technical review “now that Memo 10-01 is no longer valid,” said attorneys at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which is representing the pollution control division’s internal whistleblowers. “It would be highly irresponsible to rely on a discredited rule to evaluate a permit that will impact a community already experiencing so many sources of pollution,” lead attorney Chandra Rosenthal said in a May 2 letter to Ryan.”