Colorado elementary students' health at risk from proposed oil pipeline, teachers and parents say
A Colorado community is pushing back against a proposed oil pipeline expansion project near an elementary school.
Dupont Elementary School in Commerce City is right across the street from a fuel storage facility and teachers and parents say oil and gas production near the school puts students' health at risk.
Jason Burke has been teaching in Adams County School District 14 for more than 20 years.
"We have amazing community, amazing families," said Burke.
Currently, he splits his time between two schools, and he says one of them is in danger from oil and gas production.
"Here we go again. Just, more of the same," said Burke.
Recently the company that owns the facility announced that they want to build more fuel storage tanks on their property. Burke says the community is worried that will bring increased emissions and they are ready to stand up for themselves.
"This is a broken system, and we need to work together to make it serve our interests, rather than multinational corporations," said Burke.
He and dozens of other community members attended a meeting held by Cultivando and the school district on Saturday to discuss the issue.
The consensus: they don't want more oil and gas in their neighborhood because they worry how it will impact their health. And they will fight tooth and nail to stop the expansion.
"If we don't come together now, our children and their friends and their generations will be standing here doing the same interview that I'm doing today, talking about the same stuff," said Nikie Wells from the Black and Brown Parents United Foundation.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the company that owns the facility says, "ONEOK acquired the Dupont terminal as the permit was already in the process of being filed. Whether the proposed project is ultimately approved or denied, ONEOK intends to be a good neighbor to the school and surrounding community for years to come.
We have already reached out to the school district, and it is our genuine hope that -- over time -- we can demonstrate ONEOK's commitment to engaging meaningfully with the communities in which we operate."
But families and educators at this meeting say they have had enough, and this new project is just too close for comfort.
"I challenge any of your viewers to just, you know, do a Google map search of this facility that we're talking about here. It's literally across the street from homes, literally across the street from Dupont Elementary."