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Garfield County spills report for first quarter 2017

Ryan Summerlin
rsummerlin@postindependent.com

Garfield County saw 13 reported spills at oil and gas operations in the first three months of 2017.

• Encana Oil & Gas USA reported a spill of between 5 and 100 barrels of produced water southeast of Rifle Jan. 13. The company reported that the spill, which came from a water gathering system, was caused by equipment failure. Encana said that all fluids were recovered, and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission listed the incident as resolved on the same day. This spill did not breach secondary containment.

• TEP Rocky Mountain reported a spill from a well pad of about 15 barrels of produced water east of Parachute Jan. 23. TEP reported the cause as a combination of equipment failure and human error. The company reported that all fluids were recovered and that the spill did not breach secondary containment, though COGCC has not listed the spill as resolved.



• TEP Rocky Mountain reported a spill from another well pad east of Parachute of about 6 barrels of produced water on Feb. 1, due to equipment failure. No fluids were reported to have breached containment, but the incident is also not listed as resolved by COGCC.

• Linn Operating reported a spill of about 30 barrels of produced water and an unknown amount of drilling fluid from a well pad northwest of Parachute Feb. 9. The company reported none of these fluids escaped the containment structure and that all fluids were recovered. COGCC listed corrective action to have been completed and the incident resolved on March 20.



• Encana reported a spill of about 10 barrels of produced water from a well pad southwest of Parachute Feb. 10. About 3 barrels from this spill did breach containment structures, but Encana reported that all fluids were recovered with a vac truck. Corrosion was believed to be the cause, and COGCC listed the incident as resolved by March 8.

• TEP Rocky Mountain reported discovering a historical release of produced water on Feb. 14. This spill, believed to be caused by equipment failure, was from a pit northwest of Parachute, where an unknown amount of produced water had been released. The release did breach containment, and the company excavated about 200 cubic yards of contaminated soil and disposed of it off site. COGCC reported the spill as resolved Feb. 24.

• Grand River Gathering reported a spill of about 3 barrels of condensate from a gas gathering system south of Parachute Feb. 24. This spill was reported to have breached secondary containment structures, and it has not been listed as resolved by COGCC.

• TEP Rocky Mountain reported a spill of about 77 barrels of produced water at a well pad just northwest of Parachute March 3. The spill, caused by equipment failure, was reported to have breached containment and posed some threat or impact to the surface water supply area.

“The area of impacted soils is currently being delineated and excavated. Contaminated soils will be temporarily stockpiled on-site in a compacted, bermed containment structure. Contaminated soils will be profiled for permanent disposal at the West Garfield County Landfill. The release was contained on-site, and there are no off-site or other known environmental impacts,” the operator wrote in its spill report. The spill has not been resolved, according to the COGCC database.

• TEP Rocky Mountain reported a spill of about 15 barrels of produced water at a well pad northwest of Parachute March 10. TEP reported that the spill did not breach containment and that all fluids were recovered. It is not listed at resolved by COGCC.

• Vanguard Operating reported a spill of an unknown quantity of produced water from a tank battery southeast of Silt March 10. Stormwater inside and outside the containment made it difficult to determine whether any produced water had escaped, according to Vanguard. Responsive measures to this spill are ongoing, and it is listed as unresolved.

• TEP Rocky Mountain reported a spill of an unknown amount of produced water from a pipeline northwest of Parachute March 13. The spill did breach secondary containment. The company’s response is ongoing, and COGCC has not cleared the incident as resolved.

• TEP Rocky Mountain reported a spill of about 30 barrels of produced water from a well pad southwest of Rifle March 27. The operator reported that this spill did breach containment, and it posed some threat or impact to surface water supply area. The incident has not been resolved, according to COGCC.


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