Power Outage Causes Hazmat Response in Commerce City
A power outage around noon on Friday at the Suncor plant in Commerce City triggered an automatic shutdown during which dark smoke was released from the plant.
Adams County Sheriff, South Adams County Fire Department, Commerce City Police, the Denver Fire Department, and other agencies assisted in the situation. Power was restored around 2:30 p.m.
There are no reports of injuries. Interstate 270 was closed in both directions briefly but has reopened. As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, Brighton Boulevard between 56th and 60th avenues remains closed due to the outage, according to 9NEWS.
Both the Adams County and Commerce City Emergency Management departments are monitoring the situation, and air sampling tests are underway to determine what chemicals were released.
Xcel Energy released a statement saying, "At 12:02 p.m. MDT today, Xcel Energy experienced a momentary outage on a transmission line to a substation serving the Suncor Energy refinery in Commerce City. The cause of the outage is under investigation. Suncor is the only customer served from the substation; no other Xcel Energy customers were affected. The refinery currently has power available, but the momentary outage impacted Suncor's operations. We are working with the refinery to safely stabilize operations, but would direct further questions to Suncor ([email protected])."