Garfield County won’t join group’s complaint about well-pad spills near Parachute

Commissioner Martin says EPA has the needed analysis

By Phillip Yates
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
April 8, 2008

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GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Garfield County commissioners on Monday voted not to join a local advocacy group’s complaint to the state about four recent spills from well pads northwest of Parachute.

However, the county has asked for sampling data from the four spills from storage pits in Garden Gulch, which flows into Parachute Creek, an irrigation source for area ranchers and the town of Parachute.

When that information comes back to the county, the commissioners could reconsider submitting a formal complaint to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the agency investigating the spills, said Commissioner John Martin. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Environmental Protection Agency took samples and have the analysis that the county needs, Martin said.

“We are awaiting those results,” Martin said. “As soon as we get them, we will share them. We will be very diligent in getting those results back.”

Commissioner Larry McCown and Martin voted against joining the complaint. Commissioner Trési Houpt recused herself from taking a position on the matter because of her role as a COGCC commissioner.

Liz Chandler, president of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, asked the commissioners to endorse the organization’s formal complaint, which was dated March 20. Chandler said it was important for the commissioners be urgent on the issue. Irrigation service from Parachute Creek to area residents and ranchers begins soon.

The formal complaint Chandler presented to commissioners was written by area rancher Sid Lindauer, who wrote that he and others in the area use the water from Parachute Creek for irrigation and for watering their livestock. In the complaint, Lindauer wrote that the agency should have informed the town of Parachute and area landowners about the problem when it was first discovered.

During her presentation, Chandler also said there has to be continual monitoring of the water affected by the spills and for those results, along with the spills chemical composition, to be known. Any salt content changes to the irrigation water, which could affect the area vegetation, also needs to known, Chandler said.

The investigation, the company’s responses
The COGCC is currently investigating Marathon Oil Co. and Berry Petroleum for four spills from storage pits from November to late January. All four spills by the two companies occurred on land owned by Chevron.

Marathon admitted it was responsible for a 30,000-barrel — or 1.2 million-gallon — release of water from a storage pit on Jan. 31 near Garden Gulch, which is northwest of Parachute. The COGCC, in an announcement of its investigation, said Marathon notified the agency of the release immediately.

Scott Scheffler, a spokesman for Marathon, said the spill did not occur on the surface, but instead was released from the bottom of the pit and traveled through the fractured shale and “appears to have formed as an ice flow on the side of the cliff.” He said a preliminary investigation indicated the release was caused by a split in the liner near a seam. The spill contained fresh water from the area, water additives for well completion and natural formation water found beneath the surface, Scheffler said in a prepared statement.

“Marathon took four samples of the ice flow and had them analyzed for organics and general chemistry,” Scheffler said. “The analysis did not exceed any of the primary drinking water standards, the creek stream standards or [federal] defined permissible exposure limits. Marathon is very confident that there will be no adverse environmental impact associated with this water release.”

Scheffler said the company also has hired out an environmental firm to develop an evaluation and monitoring plan, and that sampling of Garden Gulch and Parachute Creek will occur throughout the runoff.

The COGCC is also investigating Berry Petroleum for three releases from November to late January. The company allegedly did not report two releases of fluids from a reserve pit, according to a COGCC notice of alleged violation (NOAV). The complaint also alleged that the company failed to tell Chevron of the spills.

A Berry Petroleum spokesman said sampling at areas adjacent to the pad revealed that the company’s releases had a maximum amount of 1 part per billion (ppb) of benzene. That is well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe-drinking-water threshold, which is 5 ppb, said Mike Ivy, the Piceance asset manager for Berry Petroleum.

However, the Western Colorado Congress says it has received information that the company’s releases had a benzene rate of 6.5 ppb.

The total amount of the spill of the Berry releases was about 2,500 barrels, Ivy said.

The total cost of repairs, along with down rig time, is costing the company more than $1 million, Ivy said. The company is also continuing to monitor groundwater and runoff water for contaminants, Ivy said.

Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117
pyates@postindependent.com


Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO