The Right to A Healthy Environment
Jacob Mestas Duey, Guest Writer from Global Human Rights Advocacy
Note: This article was written by a student of Dr. Meghan Cohen, in the class, Global Human Rights Advocacy. The Highlander is proud to serve as a platform for guest contributions and encourages collaboration between our community and our publication.
Human rights discussions often center on freedom of speech, religious liberty, or the right to vote. Yet one right quietly underpins them all: the right to a healthy environment. Without clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, and uncontaminated soil to grow food, every other right becomes fragile. For generations, communities have lived alongside pollution without fully realizing the long-term consequences—contaminated drinking water, toxic air, and exposure to carcinogens that slowly erode public health. These harms are often imagined as distant problems afflicting developing nations. In reality, they are unfolding just miles from campus.
Regis University sits in the 80221 zip code. Just four miles away is 80022, home to one of the most polluted areas in the United States. Air quality in that community is significantly worse than in surrounding neighborhoods. A major contributor is the oil refinery operated by Suncor Energy in Commerce City. Since 1931, an oil refinery has operated in that location, and in 2003, Suncor expanded the facility. For more than two decades, residents have reported pollution-related problems ranging from a yellow film coating cars and windows, to increased asthma and other respiratory conditions. Accounts of acid rain and broader environmental degradation compound these concerns.
Suncor presents a very different image of itself. On its website, the company declares, “Our vision is to be Canada’s leading energy provider respected for our people, performance, sustainability and relationships that together create value-added contributions to society, communities, customers and shareholders.” The language is polished and reassuring. Sustainability, community relationships, and value-added contributions are emphasized repeatedly. To a casual reader, Suncor appears committed not only to energy production, but also to social responsibility.
Supporters of the refinery often echo similar points. Energy production, they argue, is essential to Colorado’s economy. Refineries provide jobs, tax revenue, and fuel that powers transportation and industry. In a state experiencing rapid growth, affordable energy remains a practical necessity. Companies like Suncor claim to operate within regulatory frameworks, and to invest in technologies that reduce emissions. In difficult economic times, shutting down or severely restricting such facilities may appear unrealistic, or even harmful to working families who depend on these jobs.
These arguments deserve acknowledgment. Economic stability matters. Communities benefit from employment opportunities and infrastructure investment. Energy demands cannot be ignored. However, economic benefit does not negate environmental harm, nor does it excuse the disproportionate burden placed on neighboring residents. A right to a healthy environment means that no community—especially not working-class or historically marginalized neighborhoods—should shoulder excessive pollution so others can enjoy convenience.
The gap between corporate messaging and lived experience is difficult to ignore. If sustainability and community respect are core values, then persistent reports of toxic air and visible pollution demand serious accountability. A company’s vision statement cannot outweigh the daily reality of families managing asthma inhalers or wiping chemical residue from their homes. When pollution contributes to long-term health complications, the issue transcends environmental policy and enters the realm of human rights. Clean air and water are not luxuries; they are prerequisites for human dignity.
For the Regis University community, this issue is not abstract. The university’s mission states: “As a Jesuit Catholic university, Regis seeks to build a more just and humane world through transformative education at the frontiers of faith, reason and culture.” Building a more just and humane world begins locally. If justice is a core value, then environmental justice must be part of that commitment.
There are tangible steps Regis can take. The university can amplify community voices by hosting public forums that center residents of 80022. Environmental science students could collaborate on air quality monitoring projects to provide transparent, accessible data. Partnerships with local organizations such as Cultivando could strengthen community advocacy efforts. Faculty research can be directed toward examining pollution impacts and proposing policy reforms. These actions do not require hostility; they require engagement.
Critics may argue that a university should remain neutral or avoid entanglement in industrial controversies. Yet neutrality in the face of environmental harm risks complicity. Educational institutions exist not only to transmit knowledge, but also to cultivate moral discernment and civic responsibility. When pollution affects neighbors just miles away, silence sends a message.
The right to a healthy environment is not a radical demand. It is a reasonable expectation that communities should not have to choose between economic survival and physical well-being. Commerce City’s experience highlights a broader national tension between industry and environmental justice. The question facing Regis is whether it will remain a distant observer or become an engaged neighbor.
If the mission truly calls for building a more just and humane world, then that work must begin in 80221 and 80022. Clean air should not depend on a zip code. The right to a healthy environment is not optional, it is foundational.