Local officials and residents joined environmentalists and health experts Saturday morning to oppose a north Denver pipeline company’s plan to expand operations near Dupont Elementary School Commerce City.
Approximately 70 people attended the two-hour bilingual community meeting at Adams City High School cafeteria to learn more about the proposed expansion of the Magellan Pipeline Company’s gasoline storage facility.
The additional storage tanks would accommodate more reformulated gasoline, required in certain areas of Colorado from June 1 to September 15 each year as part of the federal Clean Air Act.
Many people in Commerce City and its neighboring communities have long been at odds with oil and gas companies that operate in the area, such as the Suncor refinery, expressing concerns over safety, clean air, and effects on public health.
Many in attendance said they had been unaware of Magellan’s plan to enlarge its gasoline storage facility and that the company’s lack of community outreach and communication was “disturbing.”