Drilling in Evans Neighborhood

Noble Energy and other oil companies want people to believe they are caring stewards of the environment, as shown in this video. But how caring are they when they drill smack in the middle of this Evans, CO neighborhood, just 100 feet from the closest home, and 1,000 feet from Ann Heiman Elementary School? (Scroll down for photos)

I doubt the people who live there knew that would be a possibility, because a well head existed before they moved in. Few people realize that putting in a new well is not the end of drilling.  Often wells need to be stimulated into producing again with hazardous substances like hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid; chemicals you do not want in your neighborhood! Plus, there is the danger of a blowout .

Of note too is this

Toxic vapors suspected in deaths of three Colorado oil and gas workers


The article stays mum on the likelihood that those deaths might be caused by dangerous hydrogen sulfide that can kill within minutes.

What happens when that gas escapes in large quantities? What if such a well has a blowout such as the one in China in 2003 that killed more than 200 people and hospitalized 4,000! See:

Tragedy of errors in Chongqing's gas blowout  

And this! 

Children can suffer DNA damage and illness from leaking sour gas several kilometres away, yet B.C. allows wells within 150 metres of schools


It is appalling and beyond the pale, especially when more and more findings show that less lethal gases that escape are really hazardous to people's health as well!

Fracking may affect air quality, human health  "People living or working near active natural gas wells may be exposed to certain pollutants at higher levels than the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for lifetime exposure. Air pollution from fracking operations may pose an under-recognized health hazard to people living near them, the researchers concluded."   

(Photos: Robert Winkler)

West of 35th ave and north of 37th st, Evans.

Noble Energy "Community Gardening" TV Commercial

Is Fracking Safe?

How can it be?

There are 55,000 wells in Colorado with 22,000 in Weld County alone, and yet there are only 18 state inspectors.

See more oil field accidents here

There are more than

•  850 Notices of Alleged Violations 

• 600 Public Complaints. 

• 1,200 Spill Incident Reports  

See the database of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC)




Learn the facts about Gas and Oil development at this upcoming free presentation by Robert R. Winkler, International Risk Management Professional.

November 19, 2014

from 6:30 - 8:30 PM

Leeper Center, 

3800 Wilson Ave, 

Wellington, CO

Co-Sponsored by

Weld Air and Water.
Food and Water Watch
Women's International for Peace and Freedom
Move To Amend
Frack Free Colorado
Renewable Energy Coalition of Colorado

Increase in birth defects near oil and gas wells

"Pediatricians with a lot of experience...already describe problems in children within large range, I'm not talking about 1500 feet, I'm talking about the whole city...who's kidding who here?...The implications of this for the short, medium and long term, are so tremendously critical!...I have a lot of women friends who have disabled children, and when you are talking about 30% increases in birth defects and such...I don't know what else to say!"

See the entire recorded testimony to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission below.

Also see this recent article:

Dead babies near oil drilling sites raise questions for researchers

 "..Beau and a dozen other infants died in this oil-booming basin last year. Was this spike a fluke? Bad luck? Or were these babies victims of air pollution fed by the nearly 12,000 oil and gas wells in one of the most energy-rich areas in the country? Some scientists whose research focuses on the effect of certain drilling-related chemicals on fetal development believe there could be a link." 

Few People Choose Clear Conscience over Greed

Alice Zinnes from Pennsylvania is one of disturbingly few mineral rights owners who chose a clear conscience over greed.

 She shares:

"I was offered a lease (I have about 7 acres) but refused it. I love my home, my land, my area, the animals, birds and fish living near me, and all living things on this planet. No matter how much money I would have been offered, I would never accept a lease to frack my land. Instead, I have been actively fighting against the abomination of fracking.

The more I learn about it, the more horrified I am that our government is allowing the destruction of our country, the contamination of our water, air and land, the onslaught of the strangest diseases, the loss of traditional jobs, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the spreading of silica dust... the list goes on and on.

In my opinion, the only reason fracking is being allowed in this country is that a few CEOs of the richest industries in the world are getting richer, and with their wealth, and the wealth of their companies, they are buying off our politicians. It's that simple".

Source: Pennsylvania Fracking: A History Of Shale Gas Drilling, As Told By The People Who Live There

Drilling in Towns is an Unacceptable Risk

Three very knowledgeable advocates have supported residents by coming to Greeley to address the City Council, and now the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as well to urge them to prohibit oil and gas drilling near homes and schools. Below you find their whole, or partial testimonies with a yellow link to the audio of their comments at the COGCC hearing on July 28th, 2014. 

Lauren Swain of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club had this to say:

"We are asking you to make a good faith effort to show other communities who are concerned about drilling and fracking in proximity to their homes and schools to deny the permit for drilling at Frontier Elementary. This is an unacceptable location. You're well aware of the hazards, of toxic emissions, spills, and explosions that have occurred at other sites. It is an unacceptable level of risk that you are imposing on this community, and other communities that are watching this statewide will look to Greeley to see what is coming their way, and if more and more of this happens they will want to stop oil and gas production in their communities, and I don't blame them; they should stop it. 

COGCC members

The oil and gas industry is exempt from seven major provisions of seven federal environmental laws that we depend on for our health and safety. They are exempt from major provisions in the clean air act, clean water act, safe drinking water act, hazardous waste management, super fund bill, nipa and the toxic registry for the community to know. The industry does not have to fully follow those laws.  

We do not have the benefit of EPA enforcement of those laws and the states level of enforcement has been deplorably low. We rely on industry self reporting. This is unacceptable... 

Anybody who stands up for our health and safety will be in trouble because of industry's political cloud, and ...YOU. So, I hope that you will change your policies and protect our communities. If you want oil and gas to be alive an thrive in Colorado you have to make it responsible and it's not responsible right now."

Wes Wilson formerly with the Environmental Protection Agency had this to say:

Wes Wilson

"I want to make a contrast between two risks. You saw Stuart Elsworth speaking eloquently about the commission's response to the earthquake. A 20 day shut in followed by the bottom of the whole thing being cemented to try to address that risk. 

In contrast, when Dr. Lisa McKenzie and Dr. John Agate published their peer reviewed study that the outcome of pregnancies in gas towns in Colorado was adversely affected. Specifically that there was a 30% increase in these in these births associated with women being in a community with gas wells...Now what was the state's CDPHE response against that? 

Was it equivalent to what had happened with the seismic event in Greeley? No! It was belittled, it was dismissed...no follow up!

Phil Doe environmental director of Be The Change had this to say: 

"I invite your attention to two recent symposiums; one the Colorado School of Health where a lot was said about health risk, particularly air from fracking. Its online. You should all look at it....

Hear recordings of speakers at the Symposium here

I want to turn to what you said about water use and deep well injection. That one well, injects and destroys enough water for a city's domestic needs of  3600 people annually. There are over 200 wells,  injection wells in this state, and the capacity is going up. How much of our groundwater, how much of our water ... are you contaminating, and how much are you destroying?.. 

The water in this state constitutionally belongs to us, it doesn’t belong to you, and it doesn’t belong to the gas and oil industry. You have no right to destroy it; we have not given you permission. 

Secondly, how much are you going to destroy if as the oil and gas industry predicts they are going to double the size of their operations by 2019. How much water is that going to take, and how much destruction are you going to do before we say cease. Consider the future.!”

Drilling Mud Used to Grow Crops!

“It’s really clay that is very rich in nutrients,” Korby Bracken (director of health, safety and environment for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in Denver) said. “And it’s very beneficial for farming.”

Anadarko makes some of that drilling mud available to farmers, but the company also has its own fields where the drilling mud is used to enrich the soil. Alfalfa or wheat is planted and grown. See: Energy Pipeline: Oil, gas industry rife with innovation

But, is it really beneficial, or safe? 

That argument reminds me of the aluminum industry getting rid of fluoride (a chemical on the Right To Know Hazardous Substance list) by selling it to municipalities to add it to the drinking water. Now, a Harvard study has found that fluoride does negatively affect intelligence in children.

The idea to dump mud laced with various chemicals and heavy metals on farmland to grow crops is preposterous to begin with, especially without proper oversight. Landowners are therefore advised, 

"to develop a formal contractual agreement with the company or individual responsible for disposal of the drilling fluid... 

The agreement should stipulate testing requirements for drilling fluids and native soils.. 

The costs of sample collections, analyses, soil amendments..can be included in the contractual agreement as the responsibility of the company or individual responsible for the disposal of the drilling fluids".

  
Landfarming or land application is a process whereby drilling fluids are spread on the land surface...it is often preferred to reduce costs of disposal. It may include petroleum hydrocarbons, salts and/or heavy metals.

• Petroleum hydrocarbons including oil and grease can be toxic to plants in modest concentrations either due to direct contact or through adverse effects on soil properties. 

• Salts in drilling fluids can affect both plants and the soil. Salts in drilling fluids can affect both plants and the soil. Another element, boron, can be toxic to some plants even at relatively low concentrations. 

• Heavy metals are elements that may or may not be plant nutrients, but can be harmful to plant and/ or animal health in low to high concentrations depending on the element. Some heavy metals will cause plant death at high concentrations. Others can accumulate in plant tissue (without harm to the plant) to levels which are harmful or toxic to animals and/or humans. 

The heavy metals most commonly found in drilling fluids include arsenic, barium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc. The amounts present will depend on the formulation of the drilling fluid and the geologic formations encountered during the drilling process.

The Rocky (Mountain) Horror Show Coming to a Home or School near You

Sara Barwinski shared this picture with me that her husband Dan took of the Northridge fracking operation 360 feet from their back yard. She reported that Synergy had completed the fracking process before schedule (it could have taken as long as 10-14 days)  "and all is quiet at last!"

She did an excellent job testifying before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission on Monday (July 28th), urging the commissioners to deny the placement of 19 wells near Frontier Academy. 

Listen to her testimony here.

If the link does not take you there, you can find it at 1:15:47 on the audio.


In an earlier email to me Sara wrote:

"I'm listening to the beep-beep-beeps as I type this in addition to the constant rumble and frequent banging. ..for me the worst is after dark--during the day you can't see the evidence of what they are spewing--but the first time I saw the cloud over the site at night with the lights illuminating it, I was stunned. I've seen it every night--but some nights are worse--I think it depends on where they are in the process (they are doing 4 wells one after another) and what the weather, wind, etc. conditions are as to how visible it is. Some of it might be steam, but you know it's got stuff in it."

I had tried to get a good photo and video myself, but it was too windy and the wind drowned out the noise from the site, which was audible to me but not always to the microphone on my camera.
Here are my captures. 

View from the Sheep Draw trail of the sound wall around the site.
You can see the fumes being blown away.

As I stood downwind in the parking lot of Northridge's stadium, about one tenth of a mile away, to capture the sound on video, I caught whiffs of petroleum fumes.

Truly Good Neighbors Look Out for Greeley's Liveable Future

Greeley Tribune guest column by Sara Barwinski:

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a good neighbor. The Tribune has suggested (“Compromise offers best bet on drilling”) that Mineral Resources has been “neighborly” when they submitted a new application to move their proposed 19 wells and 20 oil tanks a few hundred feet further away from the Frontier Elementary School playground.

Imagine 20 of these near the school! 

The editorial further suggested that Frontier parents were not being “neighborly” because they did not passively and gratefully accept this supposed solution. But Mineral Resources never bothered to first listen to the parent’s concerns when they moved forward with their plan to frack in the heart of Greeley-Evans. They never took the step to inform all parents and have a public forum to receive input and address issues. [remember too that the initial plan called for 67 wells with 32 oil tanks, and 30 separators!]

Instead, they tried to make the problem disappear and generate some positive “good neighbor” public-relations. I’m not sure that many people think that a neighbor who generates 24/7 noise, creates emissions, increases truck traffic, and stores flammable materials in tanks in the middle of a community is a good neighbor. No other industry is allowed to infringe on a community in this way. Special privileges were granted to the oil and gas industry in the days of vertical drilling in order to allow access to minerals.

However, with horizontal drilling, minerals can now be accessed from drill sites up to two miles away. Operators can choose locations that are truly “neighborly” and that are more appropriate for heavy industry. Yes, the wells would now be 1,000 feet from the playground — but the well blow-out in Windsor last year had an impact area of 1,500 feet and took 30 hours to contain. Is it any wonder parents aren’t satisfied?

In addition to the proximity issue, a problem with the intensity of the site remains. Twenty oil tanks? There have been a number of tank fires in the past four months — do we really think we should be making evacuation plans for kindergarteners? When I think of whom I want for a neighbor, I think of someone who looks out not just for themselves but also for their community.

I have heard the Frontier Parent Group voice concerns beyond protecting their kids. They objected to the operator’s decision to simply move the site back because they knew this meant pushing it closer to apartments and to about 500 feet from the Walmart where many people shop. I’ve heard them voice concerns about what the truck traffic will mean for this part of town, especially in light of recent accidents, spills and fatalities. I’ve heard them express concerns about Synergy’s plan to frack behind Centerplace, (behind Kohl’s and new restaurants), and what that means for this growing commercial area and the 1,500 residents of nearby homes and apartments — many of whom live less than 500 feet away.

 I’ve heard them express concern for friends, neighbors and family members who are torn about this issue because of economic considerations. I’ve heard some who have strong ties to oil and gas and fear speaking out, express gratitude to the courageous parents who do so without demonizing others. I’ve heard them express concern about the direction Greeley is headed, knowing some residents have given up and moved away. I‘ve seen them work to find a better way to have responsible oil and gas development and still maintain a livable, healthy community.

They should not be criticized for taking a positive stand for Greeley’s future — they are some of our finest neighbors.

Sara Barwinski is a retired social worker who lives less than 800 feet from the Northridge drill site in Greeley.

Note: Be sure to  Attend hearing: Support Children of Frontier Elementary.on Monday, July 28th.

Attend Hearing: Support Children of Frontier Elementary

Please attend and invite others to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Committee hearing on

 

Monday, July 28 at 9:00am

 Weld County Administration Building Events Center

 1150 “O” Street, Greeley, CO 80631 

Please arrive by 8:45am. Comments will be taken until 11:00am

This hearing is a rare opportunity for Front Range citizens to be heard directly by the COGCC.

It is critical for as many concerned citizens as possible to come tell the COGCC that school children should be protected from hazardous, polluting drilling operations near their schoolyards and homes.
They need to hear what you think of the job they are doing under their mandate to protect public health and safety.

This is your chance to tell them about how this scale of oil and gas development has impacted your, or your loved ones' life and be heard about concerns such as:

 1) Public health and safety concerns - drilling near homes and schools exposes the public to higher levels of benzene and other hazardous chemicals. Recent tank explosions should be reason enough to move these industrial facilities away from where people live!

 2) Pressure tactics put on mineral rights owners to lease their property against their will - Forced pooling allows operators to take away our right to choose whether or not our property should be developed for oil and gas. Oil and gas development hurts property values.

 3) The heavy concentration of wells and tanks they have approved next to homes, schools and commercial districts in Greeley and Weld County – large industrial sites do not belong in residentially-zoned land!

Comments should be short—three minutes or less.

 Please share this message and invite friends, neighbors or family to the hearing as well!

The Damage Done by Fracking

“At health clinics, we’re seeing nearby residents experiencing nausea, headaches and other symptoms linked to fracking pollution,” said David Brown, a toxicologist who has reviewed health data from Pennsylvania. “With billions of gallons of toxic waste coming each year, we’re just seeing the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in terms of health risks.” 

 The report measured key indicators of fracking threats across the country, including:

280 billion gallons of toxic wastewater generated in 2012—enough to flood all of Washington, DC, in a 22-foot deep toxic lagoon
450,000 tons of air pollution produced in one year
250 billion gallons of fresh water used since 2005
360,000 acres of land degraded since 2005
100 million metric tons of global warming pollution since 2005.



Fracking also inflicts other damage not quantified in the report—ranging from contamination of residential wells to ruined roads to earthquakes at disposal sites.

Reviewing the totality of this fracking damage, the report’s authors conclude:

Given the scale and severity of fracking’s myriad impacts, constructing a regulatory regime sufficient to protect the environment and public health from dirty drilling—much less enforcing such safeguards at more than 80,000 wells, plus processing and waste disposal sites across the country—seems implausible. 

In states where fracking is already underway, an immediate moratorium is in order. In all other states, banning fracking is the prudent and necessary course to protect the environment and public health.

Read more: Groundbreaking Report Calculates Damage Done by Fracking

Governor Vows to Defeat Stricter Fracking Regulations

Have you seen the many pro fracking television ads? The Oil and Gas industry,  industry backed advocacy groups, and even our Greeley Tribune editors (read their editorial!), try to convince you that drilling for oil and gas near your house and/or your child's school is all safe, all good! According to Gov. Hickenlooper ballot initiatives 88 and 89 should be defeated because,

"..Colorado is already a leader, nationally and internationally to protect the environment, and promoting responsible energy development."

He went on to claim,

"We are proving that we can take full advantage of the innovations in oil and gas development while at the same time maintaining the highest ethical, safety, and environmental standards."

Ethical, safety and environmental standards? Take a look at what is jokingly called the measle map of our city. Each dot represents a well and more are slated to be drilled!

Governor: "Coloradoans for Responsible Energy Development, Protect Colorado, and Coloradoans for Responsible Reform are all organized to defeat these measures, and I am proud to stand with them before you all today...we want to make sure we get the information out there and really focus on making sure this doesn't get passed."

Note that CRED (Coloradans for Responsible Energy Development) is not a group set up by regular Colorado residents! On their website it states: 

"Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Noble Energy, two leaders in the Colorado oil and natural gas community, formed CRED to provide scientifically sound information about fracking. CRED is a 501(c) 6 non-profit organization .. 

Unlike a trade association, CRED doesn’t focus on policy, legislative or regulatory matters. CRED’s core mission is to deliver solid facts directly to the people who need it most: you." 

Yet,  they are not willing to do any scientific health studies to ease our concerns! Why not? And, if they don't "focus on policy, legislative or regulatory matters", why are they siding with the governor to defeat the initiatives??

Interesting too is to learn who is involved with Coloradans for Responsible Reform. On their website you find some familiar faces. Our supposedly 'pro' environment champion and former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, and Greeley's current Mayor Tom Norton. 

And then there is ProtectColorado.com, another group with a name that sounds as if it has everyone's interests at heart, but is really only concerned with what's good for their industry's profit margin! Emphasis is mine.

"Unnecessary ballot initiatives supported by extreme groups are a blatant attempt to eliminate oil and gas production in Colorado. Not only do these ballot initiatives give the government the power to dictate what homeowners can and cannot do with their own property, they would also devastate Colorado's environment, economy, and energy independence".

Isn't the enormous scale of drilling and fracking everywhere around us, near and far devastating the environment we all share? And why is it extreme to worry about the polluted air that our children and grandchildren inhale? Why is an attempt to restrict drilling near homes and schools blatant? And who is dictating to residents, who have nothing to gain from drilling, now? Note that many homeowners, especially those in newer subdivisions, do not own the mineral rights below their land; the developer does. He or she gets to reap the benefits of royalties, but the homeowners are left with the fumes and hazards!

Protect Colorado concludes with this statement. 

"We oppose any extreme ballot measures that threaten the existing laws designed to protect Coloradans’ health and safety or that harm our state’s economy, environment, and energy independence.

With drilling near homes and schools the health and safety of Coloradans is not protected, and the environment is harmed!

But, back to Hickenlooper's recent press conference. 

Reporter: "You said you are going to do whatever it takes to defeat initiatives."

Governor: "Well it was a figure of speech....[outburst of laughter from those standing with him] We are going to make sure to get the information out".

He means information about job, and revenue loss, but omitting information of hazards, and the health impacts on anyone in close proximity to these wells, including the oilfield workers. My brother-in-law who worked for decades checking gas wells is now suddenly suffering from asthma, and nearly died during his very first attack!


Governor: "..If you impose a 2000 ft setback on the state of Colorado,..not only the oil and gas industry, but we're talking about almost any industry in the state, would suffer negative consequences."

Really? Which other heavy, highly dangerous, and toxic industry is allowed to set up shop inside city limits? I cannot think of any. Besides, Initiative 88 spells out Oil and Gas specifically. Not only that, but if you own the land you can waive the requirement. Better would have been "If you own, AND live on, the land". 

 Initiative 88: 2,000-foot Oil and Gas setback requirement  

"Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning a statewide setback requirement for new oil and gas wells, and, in connection therewith, changing existing setback requirements to require any new oil or gas well to be located at least 2,000 feet from the nearest occupied structure; and authorizing a landowner to waive the setback requirement for any structure located on the owner's property?" 

In stating that he will do anything to defeat the initiatives the governor is not acting very statesman like. In effect he is flipping the bird to all who have concerns about health impacts on their communities, and on the vulnerable young children living in an oil and gas town. As it stands we all are breathing various petroleum fumes from these installations, and we are subjected more and more to days on which we inhale harmful ozone! Orange day? Do not let your kids be active outside. Red day? You better keep your child inside!

"On November 20, 2007, the Denver-metropolitan and Northern Front Range areas (including portions of Weld County) were designated as “nonattainment” with the 8-hour federal ozone standard (meaning these areas exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone)"  ~  See the ozone nonattainment map for our area here. Sign up for ozone alerts at AirNow.gov 

Initiative 89: Local Government Regulation of Environment
"Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning a public right to Colorado's environment, and, in connection therewith, declaring that Colorado's environment is the common property of all Coloradans; specifying that the environment includes clean air, pure water, and natural and scenic values and that state and local governments are trustees of this resource; requiring state and local governments to conserve the environment; and declaring that if state or local laws conflict the more restrictive law or regulation governs?" 

If you want to sign the petitions to get these initiatives on the November ballot, please stop by at Centennial Park Library this coming week in the morning hours as some people will be there waiting for you to give you that chance! 

Want to help and take action? See Safe, Clean, Colorado

If you want to leave a comment with the COGCC to oppose drilling at Frontier Elementary school, click here: South Greeley Directional File # 400604803 to access it. After a few seconds you will be redirected to the correct page, then click on comment on the right, and then on New Comment to add your own. Be sure to copy the code that appears!

Parents Ask Community for Input Against Drilling Near School

A message from the Frontier Parent Group. Receive  their Instruction Letter Action Alert with more information by emailing:  fpg.parentgroup@gmail.com 

Please help us to protect our school and our community...

Our children deserve a safe, healthy, noise and pollutant free

 environment to study and learn!

"The new Mineral Resources proposal [to drill near Frontier Academy] is for 19 wells, 20 tanks and 19 separators. Plans show the site to be 1,512 ft from the school building and a little over 1,000 ft from the playground. On 6/16/14 Mineral Resources filed a location assessment permit (form 2a) with the COGCC – Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. This file is being reviewed by COGCC and is currently open for public comment.

We are asking parents, concerned community members, grandparents, local business owners, people who shop at local businesses (the proposed well site is 586 ft away from Walmart), anyone concerned, to VOICE their CONCERNS to COGCC via their online comment form.

The only way we will be able to be effective is if people show their involvement and worries for this location. Please, if you have any concerns with this location, now is the time to voice it! Your comment will become part of the public record of the application. Your name and e-mail address, if entered, will not be visible to other public users.

The deadline for comment is July 28.

Click on South Greeley Directional File # 400604803 to access it. After a few seconds you will be redirected to the correct page, then click on comment on the right, and then New Comment to add your own.


On 7/1/14 Mineral Resources filed for the USR (Use by Special Review) with the City of Greeley. The file is under review and a hearing date will be determined.

Residents Offered $50,000 to Release Company of Liability

From Aggressive Tactic on the Fracking Front

It didn't take long for the residents of Finleyville who lived near the fracking operations to complain – about the noise and air quality, and what they regarded as threats to their health and quality of life. Initially, EQT, one of the largest producers of natural gas in Pennsylvania, tried to allay concerns with promises of noise studies and offers of vouchers so residents could stay in hotels to avoid the noise and fumes.

But then, in what experts say was a rare tactic, the company got more aggressive: it offered all of the households along Cardox Road $50,000 in cash if they would agree to release the company from any legal liability, for current operations as well as those to be carried out in the future. It covered potential health problems and property damage, and gave the company blanket protection from any kind of claim over noise, dust, light, smoke, odors, fumes, soot, air pollution or vibrations.

...it is unlikely that companies will start handing out such agreements en masse, [as]..doing so could decrease landowners' confidence about the safety of the company's operations and their personal health. "People are going to say the gas companies must be concerned about air pollution because they're offering these easements," said Clark. "Everybody's going to get suspicious."

Earlier this year, a couple in Texas was awarded $3 million in a lawsuit against a gas drilling company. The couple alleged that the company's operations had affected their health, decreased their property value and forced them to move away. The case was one of the first successful lawsuits alleging that air pollution from gas drilling activity caused health issues.

..some of the residents have refused to negotiate with the company. "I was insulted," said Gary Baumgardner, who was approached by EQT with the offer in January. "We're being pushed out of our home and they want to insult us with this offer." Baumgardner says his house is like an amphitheater, constantly vibrating from the drilling. At times the noise gets up to 75 decibels, equivalent to a running vacuum cleaner, he said.

Earlier this year, EQT Corp. put up a sound barrier to limit the noise, but Baumgardner says it has made little difference to his quality of life. "We took the pictures down in the bedroom because they still vibrate at night," he said. Baumgardner says he has had to leave his house at least three times so far because the gas fumes from the well site were too much to bear. A local health group has installed air quality monitors in his home and several of his neighbors.

Last year when the one of the monitors began flashing red, his daughter, pregnant at the time, fled the house. She has since moved away after her doctor advised her not to live close to a drilling site. "Our house is most often not livable," said Baumgardner. EQT's response to his complaints, he said, has been "constant dismissals, excuses, delays and broken promises."

Fracking Chemicals Disrupt Hormones

June 23, 2014  :"We don't know what the adverse health consequences might be in humans and animals exposed to these chemicals," Kassotis said, "but infants and children would be most vulnerable because they are smaller, and infants lack the ability to break down these chemicals." 

Many chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, can disrupt not only the human body's reproductive hormones but also the glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone receptors, which are necessary to maintain good health, a new study finds.

... "Among the chemicals that the fracking industry has reported using most often, all 24 that we have tested block the activity of one or more important hormone receptors," said the study's presenting author, Christopher Kassotis, a PhD student at the University of Missouri, Columbia. "The high levels of hormone disruption by endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that we measured, have been associated with many poor health outcomes, such as infertility, cancer and birth defects."

The results were presented Monday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.

 Source: Hormone-disrupting activity of fracking chemicals worse than initially found

See some of the chemicals used on the Haliburton site: Colorado: What's In The Fluids?

Note that each fracturing job uses several million gallons of water! So, that 'measly' 0.5% of actual frack fluid additives still contains thousands of gallons of chemicals!

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

It did not just rattle my house, but my nerves too! When my family lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, we experienced a couple of very noticeable earthquakes that originated in California. One was so strong and long that we woke up the kids and told them to get under the dining room table. Even so, that quake was not nearly as shocking as the one I experienced here in Greeley on May 31st; probably because I did not expect it to happen here! 

When my brain accepted the possibility of a quake, and I saw all my neighbors in the street, I remarked for all to hear, "Probably due to all the fracking!" I certainly hope I am wrong, but learning the following, it seems very likely that there is a connection! 

• Did Fracking Fluid Cause Greeley Quake?

•  "..Quake trackers have long noted that injection wells generate temblors. There are more than 150,000 injection wells that hold hundreds of billions of fracking wastewater in the United States. The location of the wells in states like Texas and Oklahoma and Ohio correspond to earthquake activity. The Tribune reported on Sunday that the epicenter of the Greeley quake is located a mile and a half from “two oil and gas wastewater injection wells that have not been inspected by the state since August 2012.” The Tribune reported that the wells are operated by Denver-based High Sierra Water Services." ~ : Greeley quake adds ammunition to Colorado fracking war

Oil and Gas: Effects on Children's Health

Are you still unclear about the fracking process, and the health risks it poses to people, but especially to babies and young children, who live in close proximity to wells? 

The yellow link below leads to an informative 40 minute presentation by Jerome Paulson, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine. It is provided by the Center for Environmental Health. The program starts about five minutes in so as to skip the introduction. Photo courtesy of Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont. 

 "Unconventional Natural Gas Extraction and Special Vulnerabilities for Children"


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Also see "Drilling vs. the American Dream: Fracking impacts on property rights and home values"


"Realtors in Colorado are taking note as clients become increasingly hesitant about buying homes near drilling sites, with fewer and fewer bids rolling in. “Some don’t want to even look at anything remotely close to any existing or proposed well sites,” Boulder County real estate agent Nanner Fisher told the Colorado Independent. She also told Boulder iJournal that “if there is a well that’s visible when you show a property, [the prospective buyer] will ask to look for something else. A lot of it is the visual effect of the well site,” she said. “And, they think if you can see it, it’s gotta be close enough that it’s not healthy.”

Oil and Gas Well Drilling: "Very Loud, Very Dirty"

This informative half hour video tour shows the industrial scope of a drilling site. The narrator says "It's very loud, very dirty" and "there are lots of ways to get hurt out here". When he's under the platform to show the Blow Out Preventer, or BOP, he says that's a dangerous place to be. 


 


Under the yellow link below, is a video of the Windsor frack water blowout that happened in February 2013. It spewed for 30 hours before it was finally shut off. The Windsor rig used by PDC Energy is not nearly as solid and professional looking as the one shown in the video tour, and perhaps we should be concerned about that! 

• 80,000 gallons of frack water spilled at oil well east of Fort Collins Full story: http://tinyurl.com/lwepzlv

If we cannot stop wells from being drilled, we should at least expect that it is done with top notch equipment to make it as safe as possible. It's usually the smaller operators like Mineral Resources in Greeley that use small, mobile rigs. 

See this one at Island Grove in the summer of 2013 

What Will it Take to Stop the Drilling inside Towns?

Imagine the impact it would have if we all would commit to speak out publicly, even just once, against the practice of oil and gas drilling near homes and schools, and in flood plains too! The short video below features Wes Wilson and Phil Doe who felt compelled to come to Greeley last year, to address the city council and implore them to deny drilling near homes, schools, and the Sheep Draw stream. 


"People are going to have to get some courage, get some bravery, and give up some of their time and speak out about this because our leaders aren't compelled to act." ~ Broomfield mom

Post by Years of Living Dangerously.

Largest well site in Greeley city limits gets approval

There's no doubt in my mind that the planning commission approved the site for the 57 wells, because almost half of that number is already in operation, near the intersection of U.S. 34 with U.S. 85. What the members must have forgotten to consider is that this site will now emit an even higher concentration of VOC's so the area will be much more hazardous to the health of many people, and especially young children, living nearby!

Plus, there is Union Colony elementary school within one mile of it! Those parents now should be as outraged as the ones of Frontier are, and show up in droves at the City Council meeting to share their outrage before the council, as they have always done so far, will unanimously give the expansion its seal of approval!

Take a look here to view the site (A) in relation to the school (B): http://goo.gl/maps/RZN7O

These storage tanks are already in place, as are 28 separators representing the same number of well heads.

Here's the Greeley Tribune article: Largest well site in Greeley city limits gets approval from Planning Commission

Mineral Resources Pulls Out Near Frontier,... For Now!

A note from Greeley City Planner Mike Garrott 

"..Mineral Resources has formally withdrawn the South Greeley Directional Project... [T]he hearing will not occur tomorrow [April 22nd] as scheduled. 

If they choose to move forward with another application in the future, they will be required to submit a new application in its entirety."  

This is good news indeed, but Mineral Resources keeps lurking in the background, and the concern for future drilling remains! I just read the following on the Facebook page (FPG) of concerned Frontier parents:

"FPG has been receiving a lot of emails of concern regarding the Tribune article just released. I spoke with Brad Mueller (City of Greeley) and he confirmed Mineral Resources plans on refiling a new application...
This statement is from Tyler Richardson in the email sent to the city withdrawing the proposal.

"...Mineral Resources will explore the concept of altering the configuration of the proposed use in order to increase the distance to the southerly property line of Frontier Academy to a minimum of 1000 feet. If the reconfiguration approval cannot be accomplished, we will reapply under the original USR criteria." .