Suncor Devotes More Cash to Shareholders Than to Preventing Pollution, The Lever Reports

Although the Suncor oil refinery in Commerce City is infamous for its contributions to Denver's bad air, it also discharges harmful chemicals into the water near the facility. Meanwhile, it keeps the pipeline open to shareholders, sending them cash that could be used to improve the facility, according to a recent report in The Lever.

In May, monitoring data showed that the facility had discharged 218 parts per trillion of three chemicals classed as PFAS; those chemicals stick around forever and have been linked to negative health effects in people, including cancer. The Colorado Water Quality Control Division has proposed a limit of 70 parts per trillion for PFAS in its draft permit for Suncor, and the Environmental Protection Agency has issued interim health advisory levels of 0.004 for PFOA and 0.02 for PFOS, two of the most common PFAS.

“They still are not able to reliably control their PFAS discharges,” says Caitlin Miller, senior associate attorney with environmental law organization Earthjustice. “We've been highlighting this with the division and really pushing the division to issue the strongest possible permit. That’s warranted here given Suncor’s history and the amount of PFAS they discharge.”

Using the EPA’s new advisory levels as a benchmark, Suncor discharges far more PFAS than is considered safe. In November 2022, it discharged over 1,100 parts per trillion of just PFOS. From May 2022 to May 2023, it discharged more than the 70 parts per trillion level allowed in its draft permit in four of those twelve months.

Although the facility doesn’t currently have PFAS limits, the Water Quality Control Division has been requiring it to monitor its main discharge point in Sand Creek, called Outfall 20.

According to a study by Westwater Hydrology commissioned by Earthjustice last year, discharges from Suncor into Sand Creek account for 16 to 47 percent of total PFAS found in Sand Creek and 3 to 18 percent of the PFAS found in the South Platte River downstream.

“These are very toxic chemicals that don't break down easily in the environment,” Miller says, noting that PFAS are a particular concern in the South Platte River, which has intake wells used to provide drinking water.

Suncor did not respond to a request for comment regarding discharge levels, but it did commission its own study conducted by Geomega Inc. It found that Suncor’s Outfall 20 contributes about 2 percent of the PFAS in the South Platte and about 16 percent of the PFAS in Sand Creek.

These releases are just part of the bigger picture of Suncor’s pollution policies, though. A recent investigation by The Lever — an online news service started by Colorado’s David Sirota — found that the company focused on increased shareholder payouts rather than investing in safety improvements that could decrease its level of toxic discharges.

The Lever report by Matthew Cunningham-Cook and Andrew Perez, “Fossil Fuel Giant Suncor Chooses Shareholders Over Breathable Air,” cites an EPA determination that compared with other refineries in the region, Suncor has more air pollution incidents.

“Equipment failure was the most frequent root cause category that Suncor identified in its acid gas flaring and tail gas [Root Cause Failure Analyses] reports,” the EPA found. “The frequent failures in level control systems generally suggest that the preventive maintenance, inspection, and testing of the level control systems upstream of the [sulfur recovery units] may require enhancement.”

The EPA report found several weaknesses related to maintenance at the refinery. According to The Lever, pressure from Elliott Management — a hedge fund that has stock in Suncor — resulted in the refinery failing to make needed improvements.

“While Suncor has failed to make basic improvements to the refinery’s procedures and staffing, the company has delivered more than $12 billion to shareholders since the start of 2022,” The Lever wrote.

Elliott Management is led by Republican donor Paul Singer. After Elliott argued that Suncor’s decision to cut its dividend while it faced multi-billion-dollar quarterly losses during the pandemic “shook investor confidence,” Suncor increased its stock buybacks by 120 percent and dividends by 67 percent last year.

The Lever also found that Elliott Management told Suncor to “increase capital return to shareholders from 50 to 80 percent of discretionary cash flow after dividends.” The hedge fund has appointed four of the company’s thirteen boardmembers even though it has just 0.75 percent of the outstanding shares of the company, The Lever reported.

“While Elliott attacked Suncor’s safety record as part of its shareholder campaign, the company’s efforts to boost Suncor’s payouts to shareholders means the company has less money to invest in the workers and technology they need to resolve the air quality problems identified by the EPA,” according to The Lever.

In 2020, the refinery was subject to a $9 million settlement with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment related to its air quality permit violations. Since then, it has violated its air permit limits many times.

“This year, not only are their PFAS discharges a problem, but they've also had a number of exceedences of their benzene limits already,” Miller notes.

Miller says that Suncor’s history provides plenty of reasons for state regulators to crack down on what the refinery puts in the water. The Water Quality Control Division is expected to issue Suncor’s new water permit this summer, and Earthjustice is hoping it will lower the proposed 70 parts per trillion limit.

“Lowering those limits before the division issues the final permit is going to be really critical in getting protections that we need,” Miller says.