KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS BENZENE SPILL CONTAMINATES GROUNDWATER 17 UG/L

THE BATTERY WAS SHUT IN. THE PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON IMPACTED SOIL IS BEING EXCAVATED. GROUNDWATER WAS ENCOUNTERED IN THE EXCAVATION AT ~4` BGS. LAB ANALYTICAL RESULTS CONFIRMED BENZENE IMPACTS TO GROUNDWATER ABOVE THE CGWQS AT A CONCENTRATION OF 17 UG/L.

OFFICIAL COGCC DOCX LINK


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Date Rec'd:	11/20/2012	Report taken by:	BOB CHESSON
DocNum:	2231131	API number:	05-123 -18271	Facility ID:	250468

Operator Information

Operator:	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	Oper. No.	47120
Address:	P O BOX 173779 ATTN: ASHLEY COCCIOLONE  DENVER , CO 80217-3779
Phone:	(720 )929-6000	Fax:	(720 )929-7461
Operator Contact:	PAUL  SCHNEIDER

Description of Spill:

Date of Incident:	11/13/2012
Type of Facility:	WELL
Well Name/No.	HSR-BARCLAY  2-28	Fac. Name/No.
County Name:	WELD
qtrqtr: NWNE section: 28 township: 3N range: 66W meridian: 6

Volumes spilled and recovered (bbls)
Oil spilled:	Recvrd:
Water spilled:	Recvrd:
Other spilled:   0	Recved:  0
GW Impact? Y Surface water impact? N Contained within berm? N
Area and vertical extent of spill:  - X   -
Current land use:  AGRICULTURE
Weather conditions:  60 DEG F, CLEAR
Soil/Geology description  UNKNOWN
Distance in feet to nearest surface water:  535
Depth to shallowest GW:  4
Wetlands:  2700	Buildings:  1900
Livestock:	Water Wells:  320
Cause of spill:
HISTORICAL IMPACTS
Immediate Response:
THE BATTERY WAS SHUT IN. THE PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON IMPACTED SOIL IS BEING EXCAVATED. GROUNDWATER WAS ENCOUNTERED IN THE EXCAVATION AT ~4` BGS. LAB ANALYTICAL RESULTS CONFIRMED BENZENE IMPACTS TO GROUNDWATER ABOVE THE CGWQS AT A CONCENTRATION OF 17 UG/L.
Emergency Pits:
NA
How extent determined:
SOIL AND GROUNDWATER SAMPLES WILL BE COLLECTED FROM THE EXCAVATION. THE ANALYTICAL RESULTS AND EXCAVATION DETAILS WILL BE PROVIDED ON A FORM 27.
Further Remediation
WILL BE PROVIDED ON A FORM 27.
Prevent Problem:
A NEW TANK BATTERY WILL BE CONSTRUCTED.
Detailed Description:
FIELD CREWS DISCOVERED HISTORICAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON IMPACTED SOIL WHILE REMOVING THE OLD TANK BATTERY. THERE WAS NO INDICATION OF LEAKING DUMPLINES, TANKS OR FITTINGS. THE VOLUME OF THE RELEASE IS UNKNOWN.

Dear Governor Hickenlooper, You are failing your professional responsibility to inform your readers. Period.

Sept. 11, 2012

Editor, The Denver Post

101 West Colfax Ave., Ste.600

Denver, CO  80202

Sir:

As a professional print journalist (retired) and as a former member of the Iowa House of Repre-

sentatives, with some understanding of how a person just might, possibly, get the attention of an editor or a governor, I let my Sept. 2 letter to you sit for “cooling”.  Today’s published Letter congratulating the Post editorial staff for your thorough research has set me off again. Baloney!

This one gets sent. Because – at least re: fracking - you folks are so negligent in your research as to register as close to incompetent in your charge to inform your readers. Maybe you’re just lazy. Maybe you don’t care. Maybe the increasingly frequent half-page ads from those environmental paragons, the “Oh, Gee” (Oil and Gas) Gals and Guys color your approach. 

Whichever…you are failing your professional responsibility to inform your readers. Period.

Your Sept. 2 editorial supporting fracking in Colorado again stated that groundwater contamination due to fracking has not been established.  Have you ever cast a simple glance, yet alone a study, toward the COGCC reports of spills?  If so, why haven’t you picked up that 43% of surface spills in Colorado have contaminated groundwater?

More so, why haven’t you reported/commented on the confirmed surface water contamina-

tion (same source), given that only 18% of Colorado’s drinking water comes from groundwater?

Did anyone in Editorial read the front page DW section piece on the problem of cleaning up old mining toxins that flow, eventually, into the Dillon Reservoir?  Ah….that was then; we know better now.  Right?  Science eventually will find a way to clean up all the documented radioactive waste and cancer-causing chemicals from fracking residue and emissions.  Right?

For that matter, do you all ever look at your business pages?  Today’s Post has a piece on the extent of fracking in the U.S. and your reporter cites Colorado as being one of the top two states in the nation for fracking activity.  Lifts up Weld County as the premier example.

What about Commerce City? Firestone? Erie? Longmont? Loveland? Ft. Collins? The entire front range which is, not incidentally, a healthy chunk of Colorado’s population and your readership.

Have you ever taken a “Fracking Tour” with the Sierra Club and experienced the burning in your lungs or the tearing in your eyes as you stand in someone’s front yard with a well pad looming next to you? Or sat in a classroom with kids trying to learn over the chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk-a of a drill just beyond your school’s windows?

Have you ever examined the conflict between the State’s “best use” and the Constitution’s Article XX Home Rule provision giving complete authority over to municipal governments? The State is suing Longmont over this provision. Have you considered how citizens feel when they have paid taxes to and testified for their city Planning and Zoning Commission or Long Range Environmental Sustainability Planning or Tourism Bureaus only to have the State (COGCC) come in and tell your City Council, “You can try for anything you want, but we will over-ride you” regarding placement of rigs in backyards or next to hospitals or schools?

I know that I’m old.  Old-fashioned. Not current. I’m a throw-back to the times when the press and political leaders had some responsibility to the people. Ahh.. I do thank you for keeping my blood pressure from tanking. And I’m sending this damn letter anyway.

Sue B. Mullins

c/The Honorable John Hickenlooper

Produced Water and Condensate had Been Leaking for Months or Years - Groundwater Contaminated According to COGCC Reports

In a nutshell: Produced water and condensate had been leaking from and oil and gas dump-line underground for possibly months and or years. Nobody knows just how long the 'toxic' leak had been ongoing. According to COGCC reports, groundwater was confirmed contaminated.

Question for COGCC: Why was this report received 7 months after the incident occurred?

According to the COGCC Rules:For all reportable spills, operators shall submit a Spill/Release Report, Form 19, within ten (10) days after discovery. An 8 1/2 x 11 inch topographic map showing the governmental section and location of the spill shall be included. Such report shall also include information relating to initial mitigation, site investigation, and remediation. The Director may require additional information.

It appears that the operator may have failed to comply by Rule 906 b (5)

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CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Date of Incident:

12/6/2011

Date Rec'd:

7/17/2012

COGIS - Spill Reports

Form 19/19A                                                                     Doc
Date Rec'd:	7/17/2012	Report taken by:	JOHN AXELSON
DocNum:	2229647	API number:	05-123 -22756	Facility ID:	276280

Operator Information

Operator:	PDC ENERGY INC	Oper. No.	69175
Address:	1775 SHERMAN STREET - STE 3000 ATTN: SCOTT REASON DENVER , CO 80203
Phone:	(303 )860-5800	Fax:	(303 )860-5838
Operator Contact:	BRANDON  BRUNS

Description of Spill:

Date of Incident:	12/6/2011
Type of Facility:	TANK BATTERY
Well Name/No.	CLARK  11-27	Fac. Name/No.
County Name:	WELD
qtrqtr: NWNW section: 27 township: 7N range: 65W meridian: 6

Volumes spilled and recovered (bbls)
Oil spilled:	Recvrd:
Water spilled:	Recvrd:
Other spilled:   0	Recved:  0
GW Impact? Y Surface water impact? N Contained within berm? N
Area and vertical extent of spill:  18-FT X  25 -FT
Current land use:  O&G PRODUCTION FACILITY/AGRICULTURE
Weather conditions:  0-10 DEG F
Soil/Geology description  HAVERSON LOAM, 1-3% SLOPES
Distance in feet to nearest surface water:  90
Depth to shallowest GW:  4
Wetlands:	Buildings:  215
Livestock:	Water Wells:  545
Cause of spill:
EQUIPMENT FAILURE
Immediate Response:
SEE COMMENTS.
Emergency Pits:
NA
How extent determined:
SEE COMMENTS.
Further Remediation
~67 CU YDS OF IMPACTED SOIL EXCEEDING COGCC TABLE 910-1 CONCENTRATION LEVELS HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED TO THE WASTE MANAGEMENT LANDFILL IN AULT, COLORADO, FOR DISPOSAL. ACTIVATED CARBON WAS APPLIED AS AN AMENDMENT TO TREAT RESIDUAL IMPACTS FROZEN IN GROUNDWATER ADN WAS MIXED IN WITH THE EXPOSED SMEAR ZONE SOILS IN THE EXCAVATION BEFORE IT WAS BACKFILLED. PDC SCHEDULED INSTALLATION OF MONITORING WELLS TO DELINEATE GROUNDWATER IMPACT AT THE SITE. RESULTS WILL BE SUBMITTED IN A FUTURE FORM 27.
Prevent Problem:
PDC REPLACED THE LEAKING DUMP LINES.
Detailed Description:
RELEASE OCCURRED AT THE TANK BATTERY RELATED TO THE CLARK 11-27 (API 123-22756) AND CLARK 12-27 (API 123-23100). THE TANK BATTERY IS LOCATED IN THE NWNW OF SEC. 27 AS DEPICTED ON FIGURE 1. DURING EQUIPMENT UPGRADES AT THE FACILITY, PDC DISCOVERED A LEAK IN THE DUMP LINES THAT RELEASED AN UNKNOWN QUANTITY OF CONDENSATE ADN PRODUCED WATER TO THE SUBSURFACE. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Data Compiled by: Shane Davis Source: COGCC .

Fracking Company Paid Texas Professor Behind Water Contamination Study

JULY 23, 2012 | 1:08 PM

BY TERRENCE HENRY

State IMPACT

Earlier this year, a study led by Dr. Charles “Chip” Groat for theEnergy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin made headlines for saying there was no link between fracking and groundwater contamination. (When we reported on the study in February, we noted that the study also found some serious issues around the safety and regulation of fracking that weren’t getting much press coverage.)

But according to a new report out today by the Public Accountablitiy Initiative (PAI), a nonprofit watchdog group, the conclusions in Groat’s report aren’t as clear cut as initially reported. And Groat himself did not disclose significant financial ties to the fracking industry.

Groat, a former Director of the U.S. Geological Survey and professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, also sits on the board of Plains Exploration and Production Company, a Houston-based company that conducts drilling and fracking in Texas and other parts of the country. According to the new report (and a review of thecompany’s financial reports by Bloomberg) Groat received more than $400,000 from the drilling company last year alone, more than double his salary at the University. And one of the shales examined in Groat’s fracking study is currently being drilled by the company, the report says.

Since 2007, Groat has received over $1.5 million in cash and stock awards from the company, and he currently holds over $1.6 million in company stock, according to the PAI report. (Update: we clarified with PAI, and that $1.6 million in stock comes from the stock awards over the years. PAI says Groat’s total compensation from the company is close to $2 million.)

Continue reading...

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MY TAKE

<----------

Despicable!

A Nation of Sheep

Ruled by Wolves

Owned by PIGS!

KERR-MCGEE O&G: Groundwater Impacted – REPORT CONFIRMED BENZENE GROUNDWATER IMPACTS

Date received 5/18/2012 


WELD COUNTY, COLORADO 


Operator: KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP Oper. No. 47120 Address: P O BOX 173779 ATTN: ASHLEY COCCIOLONE DENVER , CO 80217-3779 Phone: (720 )929-6000 Fax: (720 )929-7461 Operator Contact: PAUL SCHNEIDER


Current land use: PASTURE
Ground water impacted: YES
Cause of spill: 'Historical Impacts - There was no indication that dump lines of tank fittings were leaking'


LINK

click image to enlarge

Immediate Response:

THE WELLS WERE SHUT IN AND PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON IMPACTED SOIL IS BEING EXCAVATED. GROUNDWATER WAS ENCOUNTERED IN THE EXCAVATION AT ~7` BGS. THE LABORATORY ANALYTICAL REPORT CONFIRMED BENZENE GROUNDWATER IMPACTS (19 UG/L) ABOVE THE CGWQS.

Emergency Pits:

NA

How extent determined:

SOIL AND GROUNDWATER SAMPLES WILL BE COLLECTED FROM THE EXCAVATION. THE ANALYTICAL RESULTS AND EXCAVATION DETAILS WILL BE PROVIDED ON A FORM 27.

Further Remediation

WILL BE PROVIDED ON A FORM 27.

Prevent Problem:

HISTORICAL IMPACTS. THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT DUMP LINES, TANKS OR FITTINGS WERE LEAKING.

Detailed Description:

DURING NEW TANK BATTERY CONSTRUCTION, FIELD CREWS ENCOUNTERED HISTORICAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON IMPACTED SOIL ASSOCIATED WITH AN ABANDONED CEMENT WATER TANK.

click image to enlarge

Data Compiled by: Shane Davis

Source: COGCC