A major oil and gas company wants to increase the amount of fuel it pumps into Adams County, saying the project is necessary because of a federal requirement that motorists along the northern Front Range use a special blend of gasoline during the summer because of excessive ozone pollution.
But that gasoline — intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — would also bring more toxic emissions to Adams County, which environmentalists describe as an industrial sacrifice zone because it hosts so many of the businesses that create pollution in the first place.
Now Holly Energy Partners, a subsidiary of the HF Sinclair Corporation, has taken the unusual step to request a public hearing before the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission as it seeks state approval to increase the amount of gasoline and ethanol it funnels through its terminal at 8591 E. 96th Ave. in Henderson, which known locally as the Sinclair pipeline.
Typically, such public hearings are requested by environmentalists or people who live near industrial sites and who have concerns about pollution. In this case, industry observers believe Holly is trying to get in front of any opposition.
If state and federal regulators approve Holly Energy’s request, the company would increase the permitted amount of gasoline it pumps into Colorado by 82% to 13.3 million barrels per year from 7.3 million barrels, and the amount of ethanol would increase by 15% to 1.5 million barrels annually from 1.3 million barrels, Corrin Smith, a spokesperson for Holly Energy’s Dallas headquarters, wrote in an email.
Holly does not plan to add additional storage tanks at the site, although one tank would be converted to diesel storage from gasoline storage, according to a technical review document from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Pollution Control Division.
The company has requested the change to its federal Title V air-pollution permit because of an Environmental Protection Agency requirement that drivers in metro Denver and across the northern Front Range use reformulated gasoline from June 1 to Sept. 15 to reduce ozone pollution. The company wants to bring in more of that reformulated gas to meet consumer demands, Smith said.
“We’re conscientious about the future — and about people’s real needs today. Located in an industrial area, the terminal supplies essential products to the greater Denver, Colorado, area — helping communities and businesses get to where they need to go,” Smith wrote in the email. “The increase in throughput is based on market demand for fuel.”
Cutting some emissions, increasing others
The expansion would decrease the amount of volatile organic compounds — gases that vaporize into the air and are known to cause human health problems such as cancer — to 162 tons annually, according to the permit notice filed by the Air Pollution Control Division. That 13.2-ton decrease would be attributed to the fact that reformulated gas is less volatile and would create lower emissions at the facility, Smith said.
However, the increased amount of fuel coming into Henderson would raise nitrogen oxide emissions by 9.5 tons per year to 15.5 tons annually and carbon monoxide emissions by 23.6 tons to 38.7 tons, the permit notice said. Nitrogen oxides contribute to asthma and can aggravate people who live with lung diseases, and they are considered a greenhouse gas, which forms smog and also contributes to climate change. Carbon monoxide can make people sick if they are exposed to high levels.
A Title V permit regulates the amount of pollution large industrial sites can emit, and Holly Energy is one of 349 companies in Colorado that must comply with Title V air-permitting requirements. Those permits are first approved by the state health department before going to the EPA for review. When a company wants to make a change to its permit, it must apply for approval from the state and federal governments.
Holly first proposed its plan to increase the amount of fuel it delivers to Colorado as a minor change, which would have required less scrutiny from regulators and would not be subjected to public comments. However, the Air Pollution Control Division, in a technical review of the project, determined the changes qualified as a major modification. The division gave preliminary approval to the permit modification on March 3, and public comments on the permit changes are due by Wednesday.
The division could make changes to the permit, based on comments submitted by environmentalists, other elected officials and residents, before sending it to the EPA. However, those changes would be the result of technical errors rather than public opposition to pollution that makes people sick and harms the planet. As long as a permit meets state and federal regulations, the Air Pollution Control Division and the EPA must approve it.
Environmental advocates say the proposed expansion is just one more example of how people who live in Adams County suffer from intense pollution so the rest of the state has cheaper gas. They also question whether the need for more reformulated gasoline is necessary after metro Denver and the northern Front Range appeared to have an ample supply during the summer of 2024.
“This is mainly due to handling more reformulated gasoline, but there are some issues with their numbers and my initial read of the permit is that it doesn’t have the monitoring in place to ensure compliance,” said Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s good VOC emissions may go down, but there’s concern that the new limit is just a sham. ”
Severe violation of air-quality standards
In 2022 the EPA classified Denver and Colorado’s northern Front Range as being in severe violation of federal air quality standards and ordered the state to lower ground-level ozone pollution. That severe classification came with multiple new regulations including a requirement that drivers use reformulated gasoline during the hottest months of the year.
But critics, including Gov. Jared Polis, argue that reformulated gas is more expensive for consumers and does not bring down pollution levels enough to justify that cost. Others also have said that oil and gas company expansions to meet that demand have contributed to more pollution, negating the gains from the special blend of gas.
Grier Bailey, executive director of the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association, a group that represents gas stations, said reformulated gas is an archaic solution because it was a rule developed almost 30 years ago when automobiles were less fuel-efficient. Now it increases costs for consumers with little impact on overall ozone pollution.
But if it must be used, the market would benefit from Holly Energy delivering more gas to the region, Bailey said. Suncor Energy, which provides about 40% of the state’s fuel, is the only refinery in Colorado that produces reformulated gas, and since refineries in border states don’t make it, the rest must be piped into Colorado from Texas refiners, Bailey said.
Holly Energy supplies about 30% of the gasoline used in Colorado and more product availability would stabilize summer gas prices. In 2024, there was plenty of reformulated gas in June and July, but it was dwindling in August and early September, leading to a price increase of 40 to 50 cents per gallon at the pump, he said.
“Adams County is the most important county for fuel in Colorado,” Bailey said.
That’s the reason people who live there frequently complain they suffer a disproportionate amount from the pollution associated with the oil and gas industry.
Since the reformulated gas requirement was announced in 2022, three companies have applied for Title V permit modifications to meet consumer demands: Suncor, Magellan Pipeline Company and Holly Energy.
Suncor spent $45 million to upgrade its Commerce City refinery to refine the gasoline.
But Magellan in September withdrew its application to expand a storage facility outside Commerce City amid intense public opposition.
Magellan’s parent company, Oneok Inc., said it was canceling plans because a customer pulled out of a contract. However, the proposed expansion was in a residential neighborhood and across the street from Dupont Elementary School. The expansion was opposed by the Adams 14 School District, the Adams County Public Health Department, the Adams County commissioners and multiple environmental and community health groups.
Some advocates believe Holly Energy requested a public hearing in anticipation of a similar protest.
Nichols, with the Center for Biological Diversity, said reformulated gas might be good for the regional ozone problem, but it comes at a price for people who live in Adams County.
“Trying to deal with these air quality challenges is inevitably sacrificing people in these areas,” Nichols said. “They do deserve to be given a break if environmental justice means anything.”
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
To submit comments:
Be sure to write that you are commenting on Holly Energy Partners’ permit modification.
Online: tinyurl.com/3nu2uyxc
Email: cdphe_apcd_airpermitcomments@state.co.us
Mail: Title V Operating Permits Unit, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO, 80246-1530
To attend the public hearing:
The hearing before the Air Quality Control Commission is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 24 via Zoom. Register at cdphe.colorado.gov/aqcc.
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