By: Shaina Oliver, Colorado Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: December 17, 2025
About: Colorado Reg 30 Air Toxics
To: Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC)
Thank you for the opportunity to provide public comment. I would like to begin by acknowledging that the lands where we live and work are the ancestral lands of the 48 Tribal nations among the 574 federally recognized Tribes that hold ancestral ties to the state of Colorado.
My name is Shaina Oliver, and I’m a Field Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force and EcoMadres in Colorado. Moms Clean Air Force is a community of more than 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 protect our most vulnerable communities and frontline workers through commonsense air toxics protections—especially those that safeguard children’s and maternal health. Moms Clean Air Force is calling on your leadership to develop strong, commonsense control strategies for Suncor Refinery that protect everyone, from refinery workers to children in nearby neighborhoods and schoolyards.
I am also a mother of four children and a descendant and survivor of the Indian Removal Act, known to the Dine as "The Long Walk of The Navajo.” 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 area 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.
Through air quality monitoring, 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 you 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 you to adopt strong, commonsense control strategies that can reduce Suncor’s pollution now. Please act to protect our children, our families, and our communities.