Boulder County Commissioner's Fail to Respond to Questions Regarding Seismic Testing Conducted by the Fracking Industry in Boulder County - Did they participate?

Below is the email with specific questions for the Boulder County Commissioners to answer regarding the seismic operations that appear to have occurred within Boulder County. I submitted my questions via email to the three commissioners on 17 December 2017 some thirty-six day ago. I received an email confirmation that they are in-fact, in receipt of my email and questions, but I have not received a response to date. Crickets…

It is important that all environmental advocates and associated organizations ask the very same questions I have asked and hold the Boulder County Commissioner’s accountable.

Please copy and email the questions below and send to: commissioners@bouldercounty.org

………………………………………………

EMAIL

Boulder County Commissioners, Elise Jones, Cindy Domenico, and Deb Gardner:

I am providing you public information sourced from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s website database: cogcc.state.co.us compiled on my blog page for your review: Were Seismic Operations Conducted by the Oil and Gas Industry in Boulder County? Supporting Documents May Reveal Answers 

Extended link for review: https://fractivist.blogspot.com/2017/12/were-seismic-operations-conducted-by.html

The information compiled appears to clearly illustrate oil and gas seismic operations took place in three separate areas in Boulder County Colorado (BOCO).  Supporting COGCC documents: Form 20 and Form 20A, state and oil and gas industry mapping also illustrates  these activities took place in Boulder County.

I would like you to answer these questions in a timely manner please.

1.       Do you have access to the information I have provided regarding the COGCC documentation authorizing seismic testing operations in Boulder County?

2.       Did you three commissioners, in whole or individually, have any form of knowledge of seismic activity, permitting, Form 20,20A, mapping, operator information in Boulder County during your active role as a commissioner?

3.       Do you have any digital and or hardcopy correspondence from the three of you, to include the former Commissioner Will Toor,  to and from the COGCC , Anadarko Petroleum Inc., Encana Oil and Gas, Extraction Oil and Gas Inc., and/or their associated industry contractors regarding seismic testing operations within the boundaries of Boulder County Colorado during the time-frames before, during and after the testing dates listed in the COGCC documents provided?  Please accept this as a formal request to obtain all documentation regarding these specific issues from January 2012  through December 2018.

4.       Did Boulder County  planning and zoning, legal team et al,  have  any form of knowledge or information, such as but not limited to; email correspondence, mapping, COGCC communication, oil and gas industry documentation regarding the documented seismic activities by the documented oil and gas industry operators and or their contractors?

5.       Did Boulder County update any mapping systems or datasets to include seismic operations and all associated data on the Form 20/20A and any additional data pertinent to the seismic operations? If so, please provide details to include links to mapping systems and or public data sets.

6.       If an oil and gas operator and their seismic contractors were to want to conduct shale seismic testing/operations in Boulder County, what would be the procedure to do so? Please describe the operational flowchart of requirements, documentation, agencies and people involved to obtain permissions to conduct seismic testing operations in Boulder County.

7.       Do you recognize Boulder County as a location for seismic activities on the mapping, Form 20 and Form 20A that I have provided to you?

8.       If Boulder County approved seismic testing operations would you receive the 2D and 3D surface maps created by the oil and gas operators conducting such a test?

9.       Do you have any additional information you can provide to me for the three areas and operators that have already conducted seismic activities in Boulder County? If so, please accept this as a request for that information.

Thank you for your time and assistance with my requests. Please see attached supporting documents and links.

I look forward to hearing from you in a timely manner.

Sincerely,

Shane Davis

Boulder County

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Shane Davis

fractivist.org

Twitter: @fractivist

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Two Homes Built On Top of a 34 Year Old Abandoned Oil and Gas Well-Bore and Liquid Waste Evaporation Pit in Longmont Colorado?

According to data from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), it appears that the LeFevre 1-17 (gas well), with a total vertical depth of 7,075 feet was drilled in 1982 by Martin Exploration with the GPS location of 40.139756 - 105.143321 and facility ID #206626.

This location indicates that the abandoned well is in the backyard of a Longmont, Colorado resident located at: 3464 Larkspur Drive.

Abandoned gas well appears to be in home owner's back-yard (bottom left) and an abandoned  liquid waste evaporation pit in another home owner's yard (3465 Larkspur Drive)

The LeFevre 1-17 oil and gas well-casing is thirty four years old, and according a comprehensive study conducted by Schlumberger Oil and Gas, 'uncontrolled migration of hydrocarbons to the surface has been a challenge to the oil and gas industry.'

Oil and Gas Operator 'Couldn't Find Well' - that seems to be a problem

The Schlumberger well-casing failure study shows that 'gas migration, also called annular flow, can lead to sustained casing pressure (SCP), which can be characterized as the development of annular pressure at the surface that can be bled to zero, but then builds again.' This is an indication of an unstable zonal isolation below ground. Imagine an explosive gas hiccup that could occur at any moment without warning.

Sustained casing pressure of plugged and abandoned wells are a significant problem affecting many wells around the world and the age of the the well-casing has a direct correlation to failure rates. Sixty percent of all well-casing studied that were 28 years old had experienced fluid/gas migrations or (SCP).

Schlumberger well casing failure study LINK

All well-casings fail over time and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, (COGCC), and Governor John Hickenlooper know the inherent dangers they are forcing on the public, and should never allow the development of homes on-top or even near these potential catastrophic hazards.

Their actions are reckless endangerment at the highest level, and the home owners are innocently unaware of the willful acts of those involved that continue to maximize profit at the peril of citizens.

Sadly, last month in Firestone, a fatal house explosion killed two men by an explosion caused by a flow-line seeping methane into the basement of the home that ignited. This tragedy could have been prevented, and all future catastrophes can be prevented if the state acts in a manner consistent with public health, safety and environment with regards to oil and gas development.

If, according to the oil and gas giant Schlumberger, 60% of all well casings that are 28 years old fail and allow gases and liquids to migrate outwards, potentially into homes, how many more incidents like Firestone will occur and is your home next?

Application to Permit to Drill

LIQUID WASTE EVAPORATION PIT DATA - USED BY OIL AND GAS OPERATOR

Oil and gas evaporation pits are used by the industry to dump their liquid industrial waste fluids.  An evaporation pit is created by digging a hole into the earth and for liquid waste disposal through evaporation.

Most of the evaporation pits were crude, unlined (earthen) holes in the ground where much of the heavy chemicals sank to the bottom and leached into the ground while the lighter chemicals evaporated into the airspace above.

What a criminal way to dispose of toxic byproducts. The industry has always found ways of making money at the expense of public health, safety and environment.

CLICK MAP TO ENLARGE

Evaporation pits in use and then back-filled (covered up) Click Image

The questions are: Do you have a well under or near your home? Do you have a right to know if your home was developed in an area with abandoned oil and gas wells? Should the state be liable for allowing your home to be build on-top or near an abandoned oil and gas well?

Contact me and I'll let you know if you have an abandoned oil and gas well or evaporation pit under or near your home.

By the way, what's the blast radius of a well-bore blowout?



Sign petition to immediately halt all oil and gas activity in residential neighborhoods.


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IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN ALL OIL AND GAS WELLS IN ALL CITIES IN COLORADO | PETITION

SIGN HERE

Petition by SHANE DAVIS

To be delivered to The Colorado State House, The Colorado State Senate, and Governor John Hickenlooper

An abandoned gas line that had never been disconnected from a nearby well was at the root of a deadly home explosion in Firestone, CO on April 17. Two people died in the gas explosion and another in critical condition. 

This tragedy could have been prevented. The lives of Colorado citizens and the environment are still in imminent and grave danger due to you allowing the development and operation of oil and gas wells in occupied neighborhoods, elementary schools, playgrounds, public spaces, rivers, hospitals all across Colorado.


SIGN PETITION HERE



GOVERNOR JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER 


WE DEMAND: 

1.  SHUTTING DOWN ALL OIL AND GAS WELLS IN ALL RESIDENTIAL AREAS AND OUTLYING AREAS IN THE STATE OF COLORADO. AN IMMEDIATE INJUNCTION SHOULD BE PLACED ON ALL OIL AND GAS ACTIVITY. 

2.  MECHANICAL INTEGRITY TESTS BE CONDUCTED IMMEDIATELY ON ALL ACTIVE AND ABANDONED OIL AND GAS WELLS IN COLORADO. 

3.  CLOSURE OF THE 'SETBACK LOOPHOLE.' In 2012 I discovered a Setback Loophole and introduced a bill to close it – but the unfortunately, the bill died. COGCC Rule 602(d) states: “Existing wells are exempt from the provisions of these regulations as they relate to the location of the well.” This Setback Loophole allows any ‘completed’ well to be re-entered and re-drilled regardless of proximity to a structure. And home developers are exempt from any state setbacks from oil and gas operations. This appears to be reckless endangerment and must cease and desist immediately. 

4.  IMPLEMENTING A ‘REVERSE SETBACK’ for commercial developers that is based on good science health studies and current failure data to ascertain a distance from oil and gas wells that provides public health, safety and welfare and environment. 

5.   'CLOSURE OF THE 'WAIVER LOOPHOLE'  
The ‘Waiver Loophole’ allows any operator to not abide by any rule or regulation regarding oil and gas development and operations that causes them ‘undue financial burden.’With a single sentence from the oil and gas industry that states “abiding by this rule will cause XYZ operator and its operations undue financial burden” the industry then does not have to abide by the rule or pay its expense to do so, and is then waived by a simple signature of COGCC Director Matt Lepore. 

6.  THE COGCC PLACE AN IMMEDIATE HALT ON THE ISSUANCE OF PERMITS not yet approved or applied for as of the March 23 Martinez verdict, and to begin a balanced process that provided public healthy, safety and environment. 

7.  WE DEMAND OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO SAFETY 

8.  LOCATION AND ID OF ABANDONED WELS AND FLOW-LINES UNDER OR NEAR COLORADO CITIZEN'S HOME AND THE CITIZEN'S SHOULD BE NOTIFIED IMMEDIATELY OF WELL LOCATIONS. 

9. ALL 60,000+ MILES OF FLOW-LINES IN COLORADO BE INSPECTED IMMEDIATELY 


o 17.5% of all fracking industry spills had already caused ground water contamination in a statewide study. 

o 40% of spills contaminated groundwater in Weld County, where Firestone is located. My studies, were confirmed accurate three years later by Matt Lepore, Director of the COGCC. If any company had contaminated groundwater at a 40% rate they would no doubt be shut down 

On June 12, 2012 I attended a fracking study session in Loveland, Co where I told the Mayor, planning and zoning commission they could create their own setbacks from fracking industry oil and gas wells. I told them they should locate every active and abandoned well in their city and outlying county and develop new homes away from existing wells in order to protect public health, safety and welfare. I recently contacted the city of Loveland to acquire the recording of said presentation, and they said that they 'purged it from their system.' It no longer exists. 

In 2011 the COGCC requested emergency funding in Florence, CO for explosive levels of methane seeping into more than a dozen homes from an abandoned well more than 1,000’ away. The homes had to be 
immediately evacuated. For perspective, the home in Firestone was 170’ away from an abandoned well. 

There are COGCC documents that illustrate numerous homes in Colorado are build on top of abandoned oil and gas wells and in a few cases, the home exploded due to methane seepage into the basements. One person was taken to the burn center.

These are some of the imposed dangers you have placed upon us Governor John Hickenlooper, and it is time to cease and desist what appears to be reckless endangerment of Colorado citizens. In addition, commercial developers can develop closer to oil and gas wells than the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissions’ (COGCC) setbacks allow. 

I warned the Governor and COGCC  that an incident like Firestone would happen. He ignored me. He ignored the COGCC's own failures and in doing so, he failed to prevent the Firestone catastrophe from happening. There is no doubt a catastrophic tragedy like Firestone or worse, will happen again if the State of Colorado does not act immediately to pass statewide laws that protect the “civil rights to safety” of Colorado citizens and that of the environment and not favor the oil and gas industry. 

LINK TO SIGN PETITION

LINK TO FURTHER DATA

SETBACK LOOPHOLE AND COGCC FAILURES

 LINK TO DEAR GOVERNOR HICKENLOOPER FILM

How one private landowner's decision to sellout to the fracking industry legally violated the safety civil rights of over 150 homeowners

This is a civil rights problem. When a mineral and surface landowner leases their minerals to the fracking industry their decision may place the surrounding public at great danger from a myriad of health and safety risks created by the fracking industry's operations. 

One landowner's decision can place hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people at risk from the dangers of the fracking industry's toxic air, groundwater contamination, fugitive emissions, failed equipment, human error, and even a blowout which is the most dangerous to communities that are close by.  

A blowout is an accumulation of extreme gaseous and liquid pressure down in the ground that exceeds the prevention capacity at the top of the well-bore. Meaning: a pressurized explosion that can potentially travel miles upwards and outwards spewing toxic fracking chemicals and hydrocarbon based fluids for across the tops of homes and public areas.  If the blowout fluids ignite, that's a different story where mass devastation may occur. Remember Deep Water Horizon? You get the picture now.

So how does one man's decision to lease his minerals to the fracking industry legally violate homeowner's and public safety? 

Simple. The federal exemptions the fracking industry lavish in, and statewide preemptions, (which are mostly arbitrary and capricious) allow the frackers carte blanche to develop and operate heavy industry operations that release harmful byproducts a mere 350' (sometimes closer) from homes in Colorado while not obligated to abide by key federal mandates that every other business must adhere to, or face getting fined.   

It's a rogue industry that can legally poison people for profit.

The fracking industry had to find as many legal ways of getting rid of their harmful operational byproducts to increase their profitability and in doing so, they stripped the American public of their civil rights to safety.

 The fracking industry kills dead, billions of gallons of potable water annually with their 'proprietary' fracking chemicals. When the industry is done fracking they must dispose of their millions of gallons of toxic, carcinogenic, endocrine disruption chemical waste. Evaporation pits ring a bell? 

Fracking Industry Evaporation Pit - Near Rifle Colorado 2017

How easy is it for the industry to create a massive pond 1,000' long and three feet deep full of chemical laced fracking industry liquid waste to evaporate from their backyard air into your backyard airspace? Simple. It's the least expensive method to get rid of their nasty chemicals, and it's legal. The sun does all of the work for them.

Dilution is the solution to pollution. And it keeps their financial bottom line looking great. Your lungs become the filter for their poisons. And don't even think about proving it - you can't. It's all by design.

In 2011 after sifting through a few hundred thousand oil and gas documents, I realized that the fracking industry had known for at least a decade that it was going to return to the oilfields they had worked in the 1980's and 90's. 

I also realized that the industry had so many exemptions and state waivers that placed citizens in a very dangerous position. They could no longer protect their health, safety and welfare. It hit me - This is no longer an anti-fracking movement, it's a civil rights movement. The oil and gas industry had effectively stripped our rights to safety.

This time they were drilling deeper and telling people they will be using a new technology 'fracking' that will allow them to retrieve natural gas from the shale. The fracking industry even created false marketing by telling the American public that using and supporting this 'new fracking technology' we would ensure National Security and  that we'd have natural gas for one hundred years. What a load of shit that was. But people bought into it.

The industry knew they had numerous harmful byproduct chemicals from the drilling, fracking and extraction processes and had to find all the ways to get rid of them without having to pay a fee to do so.  It's all about making money. Who cares about human and environmental safety.

The late Dr. Colborn from The Endocrine Disruption Exchange www.TEDX.org discovered numerous harmful chemicals that are used in the drilling, fracking and re-completion stages of oil and gas extraction and studied them carefully to determine how they affected the human body, more specifically, the endocrine system. 

 

Endocrine Systems - wikipedia

The vast majority of the chemicals are endocrine disrupting chemicals. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) interfere with hormone signaling in a variety of ways depending on the chemical and the hormone system. 

According to TEDX: "The endocrine system is involved in every stage of life, including conception, development in the womb and from birth throughout early life, puberty, adulthood and senescence. It does this through control of the other vital systems that orchestrate metabolism, immune function, reproduction, intelligence and behavior, etc."  

How to humans ingest EDCs?  We can inhale these chemicals from a source nearby that release EDCs.  Possibly like a fracking well-pad.These types of chemicals are bio-accumulative and can build up in the body even at minute amounts over time and eventually mutate human DNA.

Are the fracking industry's exemption from the Clean Air Act which states a monster fracking pad, (like the one shown below) is exempt from being legally considered a 'major point source of pollution' and  therefore it is exempt from EPA rules and regulations?  Other oil and gas industry operational exemptions include: Resource Conservation Recovery Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, National Environmental Policy Act. 

Is toxic air trespass for the oil and gas industry to vent, flare, or release harmful chemicals near communities and our airspace legal? Yes, in most cases especially due to federal exemptions and state waivers which allow the industry to basically operate without interference. The federal and state exemptions are assuredly a civil rights violation on a epic scale that has been legalized and nobody is talking about it. You can no longer protect your health, safety and welfare.

The fracking industry's operational exemption violate our civil rights to safety. We can no longer protect ourselves from the fracking empire. They can legally poison communities and there is nothing we can do under the law.

The act of one landowner to agree to lease mineral and surface rights also indemnifies the oil and gas operator.

It is this sole decision of greed to lease private  mineral rights to the oil and gas industry that place hundreds if not thousands of people in direct harm from the fracking industry's operations, toxic byproduct exemptions, and the industry's operations errors.  Lest we forget, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's Director, Matt Lepore authorized your civil right violations as well. Doc Link

If you are a land/mineral owner, please do not subject the community to a rogue industry that can poison you for profit. It is unjust and uncivil.

We are smarter than a fossil fuel. We must ban toxic energy like fracking and create healthy energy that does not violate our civil rights to safety. Fracking is anti-progress towards healthy energy and democracy. 

Frederick/Firestone Colorado

Extraction Oil & Gas, LLC (Extraction) designed the Johnson Trust 13-I Production Facility to be a safe distance from neighboring houses and buildings, clear of the 100 year flood plain and located efficiently for regular maintenance and access. Extraction agreed upon an oil and gas operations area per the landowner/ operator Surface Use Agreement pertaining to these horizontal wells. 

Where possible, consolidation of existing facilities has been attempted to keep the disturbed area to a minimum. Extraction has reviewed the surrounding areas to identify any technical and economical options outside of buffer zones. 

As a result of Operator's review of potential locations outside Buffer Zone, the operator has determined that this is the best possible location for the facilities given the surface owner's preference, property boundaries, utility easements and current COGCC setbacks

Link to official COGCC 'Application to Permit to Drill' document 

 http://cogcc.state.co.us/weblink/DownloadDocument1.aspx?DocumentId=3704541

Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) footage of chemicals being released from well-pad equipment. FLIR makes the invisible, visible and can detect hydrocarbon gases where you can't normally see them with the naked eye.  If you can smell it, it must exist right? Link --Doc# 443649

Illustrates the close proximity of occupied housing to the fracking well-pad and operations.  Conducting noise level - decibel testing due to numerous public complaints.

Glare on houses to the North at nighttime from operation lights. Doc# 674103885  Remember, it is supposed to be night time.

Jonson Trust 13-I Pad Site Plan



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Energy of Change - #COP21

Energy of Change

Leaders of 150 nations, along with 40,000 delegates from 196 countries, are attending the conference in Paris, called COP21. COP stands for Conference of Parties, an annual forum to try to tackle climate change on a global political level.

Two things immediately come to mind. One; the word ‘try’ literally implies failure. Why do we continue to use the word try? Haven’t we discovered through the vast piles of good, peer reviewed, international science that we do not have any more time to ‘try?’  

In the 1970s, ExxonMobil’s own scientific documents disclosed that humanity was on a perilous path towards planetary temperature increases from continued fossil fuel extraction and consumption. Yet for over 40 years ExxonMobil officials lied to the world in order to continue their secret symphony of destruction, hell-bent on forcing the world into a toxic fossil fuel energy dependency. It is true the only promise the oil and gas industry will give you is a lie.  

ExxonMobil didn’t even try; they willfully and knowingly withheld the truth. ExxonMobil effectively harmed ecosystems and humans of the world. Should they be allowed to try and do better? Hell no. ExxonMobil and all global subsidiaries should be permanently prohibited from entering any form of commerce on Planet Earth.

And the second word that comes to mind is; climate change.  Climate change was yesterday, we are in a climate crisis now and all COP21 consultations should be centered on the immediate importance of building global solutions around a crisis and not merely a change.

COP21 leaders have one mission: Agree on legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions meant to hold global average temperatures short of a 2 degrees Celsius increase over preindustrial global temperatures. Can the laws of politics actually change the runaway climate crisis? Let the reversal of all favorable laws, exemptions, and corporate welfare be swift with accuracy to forever render the fossil fuel empire paralyzed -- just as we are.  Leave only room for grassroots energy democracy. We should have a choice to thrive with healthy, perpetual energies. COP21 should only make sound decisions that would favor a hundred generations of COP summits to come. 

Nature does not abide by the ‘laws of politics’ and should never have to take a back seat to its oppressive and exploitative economics. It is through the ‘laws of politics’ that Nature has become a prisoner and is now requiring immediate remediation from the continued exploitation of the ruling elite.

I believe the legally binding agreements should be based on natural laws of existence and include unequivocal rights of protection for water, soil, air, all ecosystems, both living and further protect those yet unborn into healthy perpetuity.

We are protectors not protesters. We are protecting our water and our lands. We are protecting our air and climate. We are protecting all ecosystems on earth that have the right to thrive. We are protecting the future of all life on Earth.

French President Francois Hollande noted that "never have the stakes been so high because this is about the future of the planet, the future of life."

For decades the oil and gas industry has set the world on fire with its massive amounts of pollution spewing in the airways, waterways and soil - all done legally under its personally designed legal framework, but illegal on all levels of symbiotic planetary existence. Will we listen to the laws of nature or the laws of failed energy politics run by corporate capitalists?

Will humankind accept a historical shift from protecting corporate industry to instead -- protecting humanity and honor the rights of natural laws? Will the COP21 consciously awaken commerce and politics to comprehend we can no longer use globally harmful fossil fuels?

I am honored to be in Paris at the COP21 where I will speak as a negatively affected citizen and first hand witness of the fracking industry’s planetary symphony of destruction. I will stand shoulder to shoulder with the righteous people of the good Earth. I will also lay my life on the line to protect the future of all life wherever it exists. We must be brave and stand on the only side of history that makes sense – the future.

Dr. Theo Colborn, founder of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange said: “Deep inside everyone, there is something bigger and stronger than we are aware of at this time that cannot be suppressed by man-made chemicals—something ---- that will prompt some very exceptional leadership to step forward with the courage to turn off corporate control of the government and the world -- and take back for society what it needs to thrive.”

"What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it," President Barack Obama said in his speech.

I’d like to see Obama and the rest of the world’s good leaders marshal the rogue fossil fuel industry into international, federal and state courts to stand trial for human and planetary rights violations.

We have an energy revolution at our feet and we are the boots on the ground that this revolution wants to be.  It is our life’s mission to change the toxic energy we have been enslaved into with viable forms of healthy energy democracy in every community across the world.  The power of one is exponential, so look in the mirror now and get started. We are the Energy of Change.

Shane Davis

Fractivist.org