![]() Since the explosion, Anadarko has shut the wells and put gas meters in the houses, but the local people are not convinced they are safe.Ī few miles from the first explosion, a storage tank also owned by Anadarko exploded on May 25, killing one worker and injuring three more. Gas from wells around a nearby housing development had begun to accumulate in the area. The pipe was still connected to a well only 182 feet away. ![]() The break happened only a few feet from the family’s basement. The Firestone explosion, which caused two deaths in one family and serious injuries in others, resulted from cutting a pipe leading from a well that had been dormant but was reopened in January by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. It has taken tragedies like the explosion and loss of life in Firestone, Colo., this April 17 and complaints from people in other communities across the state to shed light on this crisis. Yet audits show that the industry barely keeps records for about 10 percent of the flowlines - amounting to 2,700 wells. ![]() Most regulations rely on company self-reporting. However, no monitoring program exists to identify crumbling and deteriorating pipelines or other problems, such as spills. This was known and reported in a 2014 risk study prepared for lawmakers by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Leaks and spills from broken pipes and crumbling infrastructure cause thousands of incidents that pollute groundwater. It wasn’t until 2016 that the state began monitoring underground pipes connected to wells, tanks and other equipment. Many of these pipes are encased in cement, which crumbles over time. There are now 53,000 active and 36,500 inactive wells in Colorado and thousands of miles of pipeline. It requires 6 to 8 million gallons to frack one well. In a state concerned about having enough clean water for agriculture and for people to drink and use, the amount of water used in fracking is astounding. Colorado wells are usually two miles deep and two miles wide. Today it is possible to drill vertically as deep as five miles and then horizontally for five more miles. By the early 1990s, such drilling was massive as companies became able to drill vertically and horizontally. This splits the rock along fissures, allowing oil and gas to be released.įracking to obtain gas was introduced in Colorado in 1973, replacing earlier methods of extraction. The process of fracking - hydraulic fracturing - involves drilling deep wells and injecting into them a mix of chemicals, sand and millions of gallons of water per well at high pressure. “For years we have known that leaking underground pipes carrying oil and gas and processing waste regularly contaminate soil and water and potentially threaten thousands of people around the state, records show, “ wrote the Denver Post on May 17. The magnitude of the industrial drilling sites and the miles of horizontal underground pipelines that are unknown to builders and the population of growing towns are causing increasing safety problems. ![]() More and more towns all over Colorado are being affected by the negative impacts of fracking, including explosions, noise, dust, water contamination, injuries and deaths.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |