By: Shaina Oliver, Colorado Field Organizer
Date: April 15, 2026
About: Reg 30 Air Toxics
To: Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC)
Shaina Oliver, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Advocate, Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force Colorado and EcoMadres outreach coordinator. Moms Clean Air Force is a community of 1.6 million parents, guardians and caregivers nationwide, with over 44,000 members here in Colorado, fighting for clean air and a healthy climate. Today I am testifying on behalf of Colorado parents who are counting on your leadership to prioritize our most vulnerable communities and frontline workers through commonsense air toxics protections – especially those that safeguard children’s and maternal health ensuring health-based standards are used to address the effects of multiple air toxics that can be breathed in together.
Importantly, I’m a Native American parent of four enrolled members of the Navajo Nation residing in Denver. My family of six lives, works, learns, and plays within five miles of Suncor Refinery. Early mornings and weekends are often marked by strong, foul odors; communities even closer to the refinery endure far harsher conditions – conditions that are equally lethal to our health. If I walk outside at the wrong time of the day and smell these toxic emissions, the effects are debilitating to the mind and body. I cannot go about my day without being nauseated and getting headaches that leave me feeling foggy for one to two days. My youngest son and I both live with asthma, and according to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air report”, the Denver metropolitan ranks among the six worst regions in the nation for ground-level ozone pollution. In communities like ours, it is often safer to stay indoors than to spend time outside.
We know that Suncor Refinery is a major violator and a significant source emitter of hydrogen sulfide, benzene, formaldehyde, and hexavalent chromium. These air toxics increase the risk of asthma attacks, respiratory issues, lung cancer, adverse birth outcomes, heart attacks, strokes, and neurological and developmental problems.
State policy gives your leadership the authority and responsibility to propose commonsense protections that better safeguard our communities from harmful pollutants emitted from industrial sources like Suncor Refinery.
Moms Clean Air Force and EcoMadres Colorado urge your leadership to hold industries responsible for being out of compliance and not maintaining their facilities, all existing sources at facilities must be monitored and reduced with no grandfathering of emissions from existing sources. No exemptions, protect our children’s health and disproportionately impacted communities.