Commerce City’s sustainability manager says she was fired for calling out Suncor

Former Commerce City sustainability manager Rosemarie Russo and her supporters say she was fired by city leaders after community protest notes she forwarded to the Suncor refinery’s Canadian headquarters angered the oil company’s executives, who responded pressured the city to censure them.

Russo said in interviews Wednesday that she was given a choice at a city staff meeting on Sept. 3: resign and agree not to file a lawsuit to keep benefits and vacation pay, or be fired. Russo, who was hired in 2022 and previously served as sustainability manager for Fort Collins and Moab, Utah, has decided to be fired, she said.

Suncor executives in Calgary, Alberta, were upset that Russo had forwarded handwritten notes from community members on paper posters erected in July during the city’s annual EcoFiesta, an event sponsored in part by the Commerce City government. The community members’ notes directed anger at Suncor for repeated violations of state and federal air pollution laws with emissions that harm the health of residents, many of whom are minority and low-income residents of neighborhoods heavily impacted by major polluters.

The EPA announced another round of alleged Suncor violations shortly before EcoFiesta.

The challenging notes angered Suncor’s Canadian executives, who then pressured their Commerce City executives to lean on the Commerce City government, Russo and her supporters say. The community’s criticism appears to hit hard, even though the city’s 373-page Sustainability Action Plan mentions Suncor’s pollution dozens of times and quotes residents saying, “Suncor is killing us.”

Russo said she tried unsuccessfully to set up meetings directly with Suncor executives to discuss the sprawling refinery’s outsized role in emissions and community health. During the 45-minute staff meeting, Russo said city officials told her she had behaved unprofessionally and that she couldn’t get along with the employees. Those were false statements, Russo added, saying she had received supportive emails from many city employees and managers.

“My whole job is to educate the community on how to effect policy change. And it was really crazy,” Russo said.

Russo’s supporters on the City Council and in community and environmental groups say her loss is devastating at a time when she was close to filling out applications for $17 million in Environmental Protection Agency grants for affected communities, which is affecting health and could have transformed community engagement.

“It worries me and it makes the city look bad,” said Councilwoman Renee Chacon, who is active in the community on pollution and other inequality issues. “It looks like Suncor has influence over something. It appears we are not taking air pollution and the cumulative impact of harm and pollution on our community seriously.”

A spokesperson said Commerce City could not respond to questions about personnel matters, but said city officials “remain committed to advancing the causes of sustainability and environmental justice in our community and throughout the region.”

Suncor’s Colorado office did not respond to messages seeking comment on Russo’s departure or the letters she forwarded.

Adams 14 School Board member Lucy Molina served on Commerce City’s Environmental Policy Advisory Committee and found Russo to be the community champion many activists and neighbors had been looking for.

“I think this was one of the first times the community had a voice,” Molina said. “When she came, she asked us what we wanted.” Regarding the dismissal of Russo, Molina said: “I personally find it insulting. It shows me the power this industry has over our government. It’s quite frightening to be honest.”

The city’s sustainability report states that the industrial sector is responsible for 57% of Commerce City’s total greenhouse gas emissions and that Suncor, Colorado’s only refinery, is responsible for nearly 90% of that share.

The refinery, which produces gasoline for vehicles in western states, jet fuel for Denver International Airport and other petroleum-based products, is also a major source of toxic emissions and releases that contribute to the Front Range’s violations of ground-level ozone standards. Colorado state health officials, who issue permits that set limits on Suncor’s air and water pollution, have repeatedly investigated and cited the refinery for multiple Clean Air Act violations.

In early July, the EPA and state regulators hit Suncor with another round of notices of pollution violations over the past two years, despite a $10.5 million settlement for similar violations in 2021, from which State officials promised it would put the refinery on a path to cleaner operations.

The alleged new violations, compiled in a 140-page EPA regional office report and released in July, accuse Suncor of releasing more benzene and other toxins into the air and water around the Commerce City plant. The most recent violations involved some areas that the EPA had not identified during previous inspections.

“The Commerce City refinery has been the subject of annual state air pollution action by the (state Air Pollution Control Division) for at least 10 years,” the EPA highlighted in its July notice of violations.

Colorado GreenLatinos has joined community groups and state officials in calling for tougher restrictions on Suncor and other Adams County polluters. The nonprofit worked “very effectively” with Russo, said Director Ean Tafoya. “We are sad to see them go.”

Melissa Burrell, co-chair of the Suncor nonprofit 350 Colorado’s action committee, said the community’s heartfelt notes on the EcoFiesta posters were accurate depictions of the health “atrocities” the refinery’s emissions have inflicted on Commerce City. Reprimanding Russo for doing her job of conveying these messages to executives means, Burrell says, that “local government is in the pocket of industry.”

“This is a great injustice,” she said.

Freelance reporter London Lyle contributed to this report.

Michael Booth is a reporter for the Colorado Sun. His work appears frequently on KUNC 91.5 FM and online at KUNC.org. Contact Michael at [email protected].