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Walk for two years with the forsaken and embark on a journey with my family as we track, via web entries and posted photos/video, the development of 60 new natural gas wells within an approximate mile radius of our home. Currently, there are eleven in production. 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 an estimated (and acknowledged) 115 million cubic feet of natural gas saturating the sub and surface environment and led to 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 shut in when this website began tracking developments - 9 new wells are to be drilled successively on this site. Can industry be blamed for proceeding with 60 wells in this area - uniquely prone to geologic disturbance? 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, land and a functioning food chain... all of which are necessary to healthy, bio-diverse populations 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. Hardly anyone will take on this powerful industry, let alone reign it in. But here, as events unfold, is where you can see the nitty gritty for yourself. We may be unable to curtail this industry's devastation, but we do hope to expose it. 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 an EnCana land man. 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 in February, 2006. 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. Although recent studies have found links between oil production (Ecuador and Canada) and higher rates of cancers. We hope Blackcloud's fatal cancer 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 45 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 or which pumps into the creek from the 2004 catastrophe, I consider ourselves as imperiled as the wildlife that live here, for we share a critical habitat with them. I consider the news of 60 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. As of February, 2009 we learned from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission that EnCana is openly venting (not even flaring) 7-9 natural gas wells into the air around our home. They do this to keep well pressures at 150 psi, and theoretically avoid the accumulation of what has been deemed excess pressure on the geologic formation. No one knows if 150 psi is actually a safe level of pressure. EnCana does not have to disclose the volume of gas they vent. Williams Energy, however, captures millions of dollars worth of the same type of excess gas. We simply get poisoned, with even more carcinogens pumped into the air. So much for EnCana's heralded "green completions" let alone their "good neighbor" persona. 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? Natural gas is not clean, nor is it green. As I write this, tons of methane - a greenhouse gas six times more destructive than carbon dioxide is vented into the atmosphere nearby. Tons of it. Meanwhile, industry and smart oil men like T. Boone Pickens lobby congress to put in place policies to make America even more dependent on this dangerous, dirty, devastating resource - the new oil. He, by the way is also snapping up water rights all around Texas. 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 is it 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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On June 28, 2008 a new seep was discovered in Divide Creek. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission continues to hedge the situation through a preservation of structured ignorance despite suspected threats to ground water that we drink.... despite a massive well blow-out in 2004 that continues to this day. EnCana Oil and Gas, USA, the energy production giant found to be responsible for the 2004 blow-out, stands to reap over 6 billion in estimated profits - and the state of Colorado, it's fair share - if their drilling and the highly controversial fracing methods that enable it go unquestioned. We continue to advocate for a proper investigation. On August 28th, 2008, we discovered a partially paralyzed frog in the waters of an impact area. The COGCC not only refused to look at it, but after initiating a confrontation, later walked away from our hard-won sampling effort. Two days later we discovered three new impact areas - two on our property and another that ran nearly the full length of an adjacent property. After calls to neighbors we've learned that a pristine aquifer is now showing anomalies, and dead patches of vegetation and other areas of gas expression in local water sources indicate expansive and severe impacts - extending to some of our neighbors over a mile away. By mid-summer the wildlife, even the ants (just as they had in 2004) left the area. In January, 2009 we received from the COGCC a summary account of sampling conduced in the fall of 2008 relative to the 2008 gas seep in West Divide Creek. In that 9-page summary, the COGCC denies the existence of any seep, nor any impacts related to drilling activities. In another set of documents, it was also finally revealed that produced formation gas was detected in the ground water at the same time the 2008 seep was discovered. That information was not made available until 6 months later. Despite this clear evidence of impacts to aquatic and terrestrial health caused by drilling - likely attributable to a gas kick nearly identical to the one that caused the 2004 blow-out, the COGCC still denies any impacts. EnCana remains silent save for the sounds of drilling machinery and operations. Meanwhile, the clear effects of a natural gas seep continue. And, the wildlife have yet to return. Meanwhile, in February,
EnCana experienced yet another drilling incident where gas co-mingled with
groundwater. Despite a reasonable threat to resident's drinking water
supplies, neither EnCana nor the COGCC informed residents. Neighbors learned
of the incident through the grapevine. The circumstances surrounding this
event remain undisclosed despite our requests for information from both the
COGCC and EnCana.. |
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