In the past two years, Extraction has had 16 documented spill incidents. 7 of these spills have been at legacy / inherited sites and had been going on for an indeterminant amount of time.  9 have been at modern operational facilities operated by Extraction that are similar (but smaller) than what's being proposed in north Broomfield.

Extraction documented 6 of those 9 incidents as Human Error, resulting in 200-300 barrels of oil and produced water being spilled.  

Quoting some of the incidents:

• 12/12/14 - “The secondary containment liner failed”
• 1/1/15 - “Due to freezing temperatures, approximately 15-20 bbls of produced water were released from a water truck”
• 3/6/15 - “a valve was left open at the back of a production tank”
• 11/13/15 - “The valve was left open filling the concrete pit and overflowing” (note, this spill went on for 4 days!)
• 7/25/16 - “The load line valve on the north side of the tank farm was left open.”
• 11/18/16 - “5-10 barrels of produced water were released by a 3rd party vendor”

In spite of these human error incidents, Extraction acknowledged no culpability in any of the incident reports. Vendors, freezing temperatures, and other factors were always cited. It was never “we left the valve open”.  Instead it’s “a valve was left open”. 

The spills are summarized here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p28w5zimqcyexig/Extraction-Spills.xlsx?dl=1 (one other thing of note in these details is that 13 out of the 16 spills escaped secondary containment).

Please take some time to dig through their project and research initiatives.  Their site is filled with plenty of great information that applies to Wildgrass as well.

http://www.broomfieldcleanairandwater.org/

Additionally, if you know people in Anthem, please tell them about this. We need to help get the word out.

There are more than ninety oil and gas well sites in Broomfield, primarily located north of 136th. During Wildgrass’s recent meeting with Extraction, Extraction described the steps they take to limit the risks to ground water within the wells themselves.  However, what was not addressed in the meeting was the impact due to surface leaks and spills.  That omission got us wondering what the risks were at the surface.  This is particularly important due to our proximity to the Lowell pad and the fact that the pad is directly between the two reservoirs.

Gas Leaks

The first question we looked into was air/gas related leaks.  These air polution related regulations are set by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Actual inspections are done by the City and County of Broomfield’s Public Health and Environment Division (PHE). This division checks all of the sites with gas storage facilities annually using a FLIR Infrared camera that identifies gas leaks. In addition to the PHE, the COGCC will also inspect gas related leaks when there is a complaint about air related issues.

According to Broomfield PHE, last year they inspected the 38 active sites in Broomfield with storage facilities.  Of those, 22 sites were identified to have an identified leak. As of the June 14, 2016 City Council meeting, PHE reported that 21 out of the 22  leaking sites had been fixed and validated.  With the exception of one well that was plugged and abandoned, they will all be inspected again this year. More details and the information supporting this can be found here: http://www.broomfield.org/DocumentCenter/View/14442

Surface Leaks in Broomfield

Next, we researched ground spills and releases.  These leak reports are managed by the COGCC and are based on reports from the Oil and Gas producers themselves.  Rule 906 defines when a spill must be reported to the COGCC (https://cogcc.state.co.us/Announcements/Hot_Topics/Hydraulic_Fracturing/Rule906.pdf)

Since 2012, seven spills were reported in Broomfield that met the defined criteria.  These spills could be dirty water, condensate, oil, or chemicals. The seven spills can be seen by selecting Broomfield here: http://cogcc.state.co.us/cogis/IncidentSearch.asp . We recommend running that query and reading the reports to better interpret if you that there is a potential impact.  A few notable ones you'll see in that search include:

• Doc #439650 - This well is located in the middle of the Broadlands community. Investigation is still ongoing per my conversation with the COGCC last week.
• Doc #436894 - This one is further northeast of us, but the spill did impact ground and surface water. This remediation is ongoing as well
• Doc #2222764 - This is a 3600 sq ft spill involving 15 barrels of drill mud who’s documented cause was human error during the drilling process.

Surface Leaks at Extraction O&G Sites in Colorado

Finally, the third area we reviewed was Extraction O&G’s spill incidents at their existing wells. This does not include gas leaks as that information is not readily available, and instead only focuses on ground spills and releases. If you go to the COGCC Incident Search and select all of the counties and enter a Operator ID of 10459, you can see Extraction’s 17 documented incidents.  Some notable issues include these two which occured within the past 3 months:

• Doc #401083405 - This most recent issue occurred on July 23 at Facility 446984.  11 barrels were spilled due to human error by an Extraction O&G employee.  All of the oil stayed within a lined area and was cleaned up without impacting the surrounding area.
• Doc #401052095 - The second most recent issue occurred on May 20 at Facility 445802.  10-15 barrels of crude were spilled due to human error by an Extraction O&G employee into the surrounding area.  Their attempt to close this issue was rejected because extraction failed to provide the required confirmation soil samples.

Again, the above is just a sample of the information out there and we encourage everyone to continue to read and look through the incidents occurring around our houses and with the vendor that is planning work in the area.

Fracking Safety Exemptions -
https://www.eastcoastriskmanagement.com/…/Process-Safety-Ma…
http://www.louisianalawblog.com/…/awaiting-the-arrival-of-…/
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document…

Public Health Concerns of Shale Gas Development
http://www.psr.org/…/public-health-concerns-of-shale-gas-de…