Adams 14 neighbors and activists ‘planning for a fight’ on pipeline company expansion near school

Local officials and residents joined environmentalists and health experts Saturday morning to oppose a north Denver pipeline company's plan to expand operations near Dupont Elementary School Commerce City.

Approximately 70 people attended the two-hour bilingual community meeting at Adams City High School cafeteria to learn more about the proposed expansion of the Magellan Pipeline Company’s gasoline storage facility.

The additional storage tanks would accommodate more reformulated gasoline, required in certain areas of Colorado from June 1 to September 15 each year as part of the federal Clean Air Act.

Many people in Commerce City and its neighboring communities have long been at odds with oil and gas companies that operate in the area, such as the Suncor refinery, expressing concerns over safety, clean air, and effects on public health.

Many in attendance said they had been unaware of Magellan’s plan to enlarge its gasoline storage facility and that the company's lack of community outreach and communication was “disturbing.”

Partnered with the Center for Biological Diversity and Cultivando, Adams 14 school district plans to submit its public comment to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division by Sept. 16.

“We have it mostly written right now, Joe Salazar, chief legal counsel for Adams 14, said. “We will finish it this week, and we're going to focus on a number of things.”

Salazar declined to provide the group with details, citing concerns about a possible oil and gas plant in the audience.

“Believe me, that's what they (oil and gas companies) do, he said. “But I'll tell you that our focus is the Environmental Justice Act.

CDPHE will have 90 days to either respond to the district or make a decision.

Commerce City council member and resident Renee Millard-Chacon accused the company of environmental racism, saying a project like this “wouldn’t fly in a white community,”

“They don’t propose these projects next to Cherry Creek,” she said.

Commerce City Steve Douglas said the city has already drafted a letter and will also submit comments to CDPHE.

“It's sad that we have a big, huge, major refinery here, and they're not in the top 5% of our revenue, but they are at the top of our health concerns,” Douglas said.

The Denver Gazette contacted Magellan for comment, but a response was not immediately returned.

“This isn’t just about district property, and it’s not just about a school across the street,” Salazar told the crowd. “It’s about who occupies that school across the street. It's about the neighbors…it's about our families who come to our schools, hoping they have kids who can go to a school and breathe clean air.”

The group plans a press conference on Sept. 17.