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Walk for fifteen months with the forsaken and embark on a journey with my family as we track, via web entries and posted photos/video, the planned development of 40 new natural gas wells within an approximate mile radius of our home. Currently, there are five in production - a sixth was shut in a couple of weeks ago. Nine of the planned 40 wells new have been approved so far. This region is a former “moratorium” area created as the result of a toxic leak into Divide Creek which occurred – and continues to be mitigated - in early 2004. The leak was found by the state of Colorado to have been caused by an improperly drilled well which was located approximately a quarter mile from our home. This resulted in the largest fine issued by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in Colorado's history. The well which was the focus of that investigation was the one recently shut in - 9 new wells are to be drilled successively on this site. The rig is now set. Can industry be blamed for proceeding with 40 wells? Hardly. Industry operates to turn a profit - and, without moral discretion, can be expected to stop at nothing within allowable bounds to achieve it. Allowable bounds. This is what we must consider. To what limits should industry be allowed to pollute, endanger and destroy for the benefit of profit? Though America benefits from the new economy of catastrophe and environmental degradation, how readily can we recover precious lost resources of air, water and land... interdependent resources of population, diversity and sustainable contiguous habitat. Simply because we can do something, doesn't mean we should. But today we grapple and hope to survive what is allowed. Prudence in the permitting process has failed the people, once again. This is our version of a reality show that, we believe, would be too hot for many networks to handle. But here, as events unfold, is where you can see the nitty gritty for yourself. Our family has been coping with the dirty business, excesses and extreme impacts of natural gas exploration and production in our ‘back-yard’ since 2003 when we first got the proverbial ‘knock on the door’ from a corporate representative. Since that time we’ve personally experienced repeated trespass; destruction of our private property; plumes of toxic black smoke settling over our home and valley; the release of benzene and other carcinogens into Divide Creek; the spewing of toxic agents into the air from a condensate tank with a failed ‘pop’ valve; earth-shaking tremors of a ‘kick’ experienced from underbalanced drilling operations; and a satellite herd of elk driven to panic by pipeline activities which occurred during their winter migration and use of our area as primary winter range and calving grounds. All this with (at the time) 2 wells in the vicinity. Incredibly, we don’t have a well on our property. These are effects we’ve directly experienced living as far as a mile away. We lost a family member to pancreatic cancer this February. We do not know if it was related to the events above. There are no studies to show toxicological and epidemiological effects on people from long term cumulative exposure to noxious chemicals at low levels. We hope this event was not related because we consider our remaining family members squarely in the line of fire. How much fire? We don’t know. Unless we can afford to install a $60,000 air quality monitoring device which we can place near our home, the odds are likely we won’t ever know. Baseline air quality studies and on-going monitoring is inconsistent and often completely unavailable. Chalk one up for industry. Years ago, drillers were allowed to drill 1 well per 640 acres (that’s 1 well per square mile). Then it was 1 well every 360 acres. Industry lobbied for 1 well every 40 acres, then 20, then 10. Now, EnCana, the largest natural gas producer in North America is planning to drill 15 new wells only a quarter mile from our home, and 25 more within an approximate mile radius. I've been told that within a Federal Unit, an operator can drill as many as one well per 3 acres. This website is dedicated to tracking the progress of these wells – and any catastrophic events which may arise from these intense activities. You won’t have long to wait. All the wells are to be drilled within fifteen months. Straight through, hammer down, without, in my opinion, sufficient regard, once again, for the elk herd that winters here, nor for the residents who live here year-round. Because of what I believe are poorly regulated environmental controls - like appropriate standards for lung-eroding ozone and carcinogenic benzene present in condensate tanks stored nearby, I consider ourselves as imperiled as the wildlife that live here, for we share a critical habitat with them. I consider the news of 40 wells drilled within a mile of my home a death sentence. I obviously hope industry and environmental regulators prove me wrong. But, of course, we won’t know until it’s too late. Industry touts voluntarily reduced emissions, in the range of 80%, but even with 90% reduction in emissions, we are still exposed to a potential of (10% x 40 wells) 400% emissions. Are we so well informed as to the safety of these emissions that we can now breath freely and easily? Have any studies - even surveys been conducted as to the health effects of these VOC emissions? No. Not here. In fact, though raw gas and condensate are known to contain various cancer-causing agents, such as Benzene and Toluene, the EPA has established no thresholds for human exposure - short term or cumulative. I wonder if being shot with 10 bullets is any less fatal than being shot with 100? Chalk another one up for industry. Natural gas has been successfully marketed as the new 'clean energy'. While it burns cleaner than coal as an end product, how dirty is the development? And what impacts does it have on the people and the environment in proximity of its recovery? This site is here to draw attention to rural Americans: people who are as much a part of the landscape as are the rivers, the mountains and sky. But because of our relatively small numbers, as compared to our neighbors in the cities (and concentrated voting blocks), we are often forgotten. Those of us who have been in the fray of intense development for the last several years recognize that all of us as collective stakeholders have begun moving in the direction of better managed resource extraction. Hopefully, this site will be viewed by those in the spotlight (ourselves included) as an opportunity to better identify vulnerabilities in the protections of human health and the environment, resource management and industry practice. It is an invitation to all concerned to put their best foot forward. As webmaster of this site, I am dedicated to journalistic integrity, so don’t look for one-sided bad-mouthing of the oil and gas industry nor our government here. What you will find is the good the bad and the ugly as it avails itself. If we screw up – you’ll read about it here. If EnCana screws up – you’ll learn about it here. If our state regulators screw up, you’ll hear about it here. If something is done right and all goes smoothly – you’ll find out about that here also. We're by no means anti-industry. I grew up in rural Oklahoma and big-city Texas, and my grandpa hauled water by wagon for the oil industry to survive the great depression. I support a strong economy and the folks who make their living from the gas-patch. I'm a registered independent, and consider myself pro-common sense and decency. I take a position - any position - based on three simple criteria: 1) is it right or wrong? 2) Does it make common sense? 3) Is it fair? What we are is anti-stupidity, and there's a lot of room for improvement in the way the extractive industry is allowed to operate. This site is about the truth – the facts. And, of course, where appropriate, editorial opinion. We live in a National Energy Sacrifice Zone,
established during the Carter Administration. How big is this zone? It
encompasses much of the intermountain west. Of course we didn't know that
when we moved here twenty years ago. It's not exactly something widely
publicized. In this energy sacrifice zone, we feel as though we, too, are being sacrificed. Only time will tell to what degree, but I hope there are many eyes turned toward this site, because this is where the record begins. Welcome to our continued journey through hell. |
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my family and all families struggling to preserve their basic human rights
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