Declining Air Quality Danger to Children

See why our air is not safe to breathe! I would like to see FLIR footage of all installations in Greeley!

"I have lived in Greeley my entire life. I have been an RN here for twelve years and work with women, infants and children. To reiterate what the respiratory therapist and Doctor Montes said, there are a lot of peer reviewed, scientific articles which are the type of information that we are to consider as factual,.. and so there is evidence that shows a danger from the declining air quality and I know that I am personally going to see the effects of that when I care for the children in town. 

The American Nurses Association's stance on oil and gas development is...to follow the precautionary principle. The burden of proof that something is safe, is on the industry, not on the citizens...To me, having these setbacks from a school, that seems very reasonable, very doable, and like a baby step to keep our children safe.... 

Yes, the jobs and the economy in Greeley are amazing,...but if we don't have healthy citizens, really what good is that? I personally think the government's number one priority is to protect the health of its citizens..."

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

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.!”

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.

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 drilling sounds like

This gives a good idea of the constant droning that's heard far away from the Northridge site despite the 'sound wall'. It will continue 24/7 until the drilling is completed. As I shot video and photos, a man in a white truck came to check me out. We had a pleasant, and long conversation. He wanted me to note that no diesel power is used for the drilling.

The sight and sound from the Sheep Draw trail on the other side of the pad. According to Synergy the sound will be worse during the actual fracturing period, slated to begin in July, which will also see heavy truck traffic into and from the site.

A peek around the sound wall

COGCC Director Implies: Accept Fracking or Move!

Take note Greeley residents! If fracking will take place near your home or your child's school, you have choices according to Matt Lepore. Two, to be exact! Accept the situation, or move away!

Lepore, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, in a CBS Denver clip of May 13, "Community Confronts Controversial Fracking Operation In Greeley" that has since been removed, says: "The governor is listening. We're looking for reasonable solutions".

According to Lepore "the drill rigs were placed after a year of community input, all environmental concerns have been addressed, and the wells are here to stay"

CBS reporter Tom Mustin then asks him, "So what if they still have concerns about it? Is there anything they can do about it?"
Lepore shrugs and responds with "You know, they have choices"

In closing, Tom Mustin says that "Oil and Gas executives have approved another 67 oil wells to be dug here in Greeley; several are near a local school"

See:

Community Confronts Controversial Fracking Operation In Greeley -  May 13, 2014 1:20 PM

Massive Gas Explosion Rocks Area North of Greeley

"The massive explosion at an oil/gas site near Greeley should be a wake-up call about the dangers of fracking within our residential neighborhoods and close to our schools. Numerous large scale sites have been approved in densely populated areas of Greeley (i.e. Kelly Farms and Fox Run Subdivisions). Likewise, Mineral Resources Inc. has applications for a massive site east of the University and another in close proximity to Frontier Academy on 29th street. Why is Greeley so willing to endanger our health and risk a catastrophic event like this in our backyards?" Karen Janata, in a letter to the Editor, and the Greeley City Council

Excerpt from the Greeley Tribune article:

“We see the source as either being static electricity or it appears someone may have parked their truck too close to the tank..” Duane Zavadil, senior vice president of environmental health and safety, regulatory and governmental affairs for Bill Barrett said. “At end of day, the flammable vapors were present as a consequence of oil accumulation.”

Static electricity and possibly a parking violation may be the culprits in a massive explosion and fire at an oil and gas drilling site north of Greeley. Neighbors were rocked out of their beds around 11:20 p.m. Monday [March 3], when an explosion shook their doors. The subsequent fire could be seen for miles.

“We were getting ready for bed and the whole house shook,” said Liz Hergert, a resident in the area. Her husband drove up the road a bit and snapped several pictures of the fire, which was offset from the drilling site at some storage tanks. The fire occurred at a Bill Barrett Corp. drilling site a couple of miles west of Lucerne in the area of Weld County roads 27 and 70.

Two workers received minor injuries and were treated on scene... There was no resulting damage to neighboring property, and the storage tanks held up well, Duane Zavadil said.

“It was down in a hole, at a lower elevation, so any nearby houses were up and over a hill. Thankfully, we didn’t have to really worry about that.” ~ Eaton Fire Capt. Michael Lenderink. .

Zavadil said the incident is being investigated so officials can learn from it and prevent a second occurrence. “Our management will tell you ... there is no such thing as an accident,” Zavadil said. “Ultimately, we’d consider it something that is mitigable, that we’re not going to just simply say it was a freak spark, or someone parked too close. There’s something to be learned from this circumstance that we’ll be reacting to.” He added, “We don’t ascribe any accident to bad luck. They’re all things we think we can improve on and learn from.”

There's Something in the Water!

Fact: Just one gallon of oil can contaminate a million gallons of water!

"If the drinking water is contaminated, many health risks can result: ...a component of gasoline, benzene, is known to be a carcinogen.." (Louisiana Dept. of Environmental Quality)

Polluted water is a serious risk, and the fact that hundreds of oil and gas wells in Weld County are situated in the flooded areas, and may be leaking oil and chemicals, adds to the danger. See a list of various contaminants that can mix with surface water during a flood.

"A spokesman for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said the agency is aware of the potential for contamination from flooded drilling sites, but there simply is no way to get to those sites while flooding is ongoing and while resources are concentrated on saving lives. (Boulder Daily Camera)

Here a sampling by Weld Air and Water members and others, of the many hundreds of oil and gas wells in the flooded areas. Though some were taken by the Greeley Tribune and Denver Post, nothing was mentioned about the hazards that oil and chemicals in these tanks pose to the people who rely on these rivers for their drinking water, or who will consume food grown in fields previously flooded!

A photo by Andy Cross shows what looks like oil floating on the water.

 (Denver Post slide show)

A toppled oil condensate tank in Evans. (Greeley Tribune)

Outside of Kersey (Greeley Tribune)

Cache la Poudre river (Bob Winkler)

Near South Platte river, Evans (Carl Erickson)

Cache la Poudre (Paula Powell)

Conflux of S. Platte and Big Thompson, 54th St.Rd. (Laurie Lareau)

Tank tipping over. (Laurie Lareau)

Water is receding. (Laurie Lareau)

 More tanks in the water in the same area. (Laurie Lareau)

Along the South Platte river.(kathywoztompkins-Facebook)

O&G employee: "Line break; gas has been blowing for 2 days. N.E. of Kersey"

(FrackingOpponentsUnited-Facebook)

Inundated drill rig east of U.S. 85 near Evans. Note the oil slick on the left.

Coffee Shop Denied, Gas Wells Welcome!

From  Council shoots down proposed coffee shop near university 

Greeley City Council members on Tuesday (7/16) unanimously denied a proposal to convert a rundown corner market near the University of Northern Colorado into a coffee shop.

• ..residents who live closest to the site said they were concerned about the noise and traffic that could come from the shop..[They also] said a coffee shop is not compatible with the completely residential nature of the neighborhood..[Even] Greeley planners recommended that the city council deny the application based on the fact that the property should not be zoned commercial in a uniformly residential area..."City council members were receptive to the idea of the coffee shop, but said [the three] residents' concerns moved them to deny the proposal"

So, the coffee shop is denied, but they don't have any qualms about approving the placement of multiple gas wells within a residential zone close to houses and schools? What about the concerns of residents in Fox Run and near Northridge to have an industrial site spring up, with noise and traffic and unhealthy fumes? 

What about the concerns of more than forty people who spoke out against drilling in Fox Run on May 7th, at the city council's public hearing? Why did council members not care about any of those pleas? The same is true for the Planning Commissioners, save Eddie Mirick. After excellent and compelling testimony against putting in 12 horizontal wells in Northridge, near the Sheep Draw, all but Mirick voted in favor of the drilling.

Mayor Says:"Fracking issue is separate from Use by Special Review".

No, it isn't!  Not when gas wells, and their accompanying condensate tanks, flares and separators are planned near houses, parks and nature trails! The mayor said it more than once, perhaps to justify his decision to allow gas wells in Fox Run. Council member Donna Sapienza tried justifying hers too when, after the vote and a short break in proceedings, she murmured to councilman Mike Finn beside her:

"I'm really threatened by them, but it was easier than I thought it would be, but..what I did to think this through, was the constant off topic stuff, but that was their point."

No, the point people tried to make at the special hearing on May 7th, is that drilling operations, and the production process of gas and oil, pose a hazard to people's health. An industrial site with hazardous substances, and waste products has no place in a residential area, and Greeley's 2020 Comprehensive Plan, "the official tool used to express a community vision.." certainly points to that: with these goals:

“Assuring the development of a safe and pleasant community; improving the visual appeal of the community;..[to] Disallow high impact agricultural and heavy industrial land uses that generate obnoxious influences, such as noise, fumes, or hazards." 

The amended version valid till 2060, states on page 8: 

“Quality of life” of a community takes into account... the image and visual appearance of the community"

And, on page 16: 

1 Seek economic growth in business sectors which maintain quality environmental practices which improve the area’s image and appeal (see also EC2C1a and EN5G3) 

2 Develop strategies to disallow, discourage and/or mitigate impacts from businesses unsuitable for an urban environment, or which produce a product or service which significantly detracts from the local image or quality of life and deters community investment (see also LU1C2)

With those guidelines/directives it is only right and logical, to deny placement of gas wells within residential areas, or where people and children spend time outdoors such as schoolyards, parks, and nature trails.

Will the sun set for good over the Sheep Draw?

Sunset over the Sheep  Draw

Last evening I ran into a man walking his dog on the beautiful Sheep Draw trail, beside which 12 horizontally drilled gas wells are planned. He said he'd just watched a scary movie on HBO and mentioned 'water catching on fire', so I asked "Gasland 2?" Yes, he said.

The trail near Northridge HS, north of 4th Street.

South of the trail is Hunter's Cove subdivsion.

More than before, he now has concerns about air quality because he lives closest to the already existing 6 vertical wells across the stream. The well pad with six oil tanks, located higher up on a natural bank, borders the beautiful, snaking stream with marshland in which cat tails and other riparian plants thrive and form habitat for red winged black birds.

View of the site from the trail. Take a look with Google maps. Click  here.

The six existing oil tanks. Note venting tubes on top and housing nearby.

Old trees are a nesting place for hawks and eagles. The area is so serene that you will only hear the rustling of tall grasses and reeds in the breeze, and the song of the red-winged blackbirds, or an occasional shriek from a raptor. After sunset the fire flies dance among the reeds, and much later owls may be heard.

Unfortunately there is danger lurking in this pastoral scene. The man said he can smell the fumes from where he lives, and I believe him as walking the trail with my daughter, we caught whiffs of emissions that were not marsh smells. Clearly it comes from the two big flares and the four separators. The new plan, if approved, will add 13 more separators, and 19 more oil tanks which also vent fumes.

Visible from the trail, the separators and flares, fuming 24/7 

A decision to permit more drilling on the site should not be made before the planning commissioners or city council members have actually visited this place. It deserves their respect. If they were to see and experience it,  for these photos do not do it justice, all would be in awe. That is, unless as children they were never encouraged to see and enjoy the beauty of the natural world, as that would have instilled respect in them, and a commitment to care for it and protect it.

We in Greeley must help preserve that beautiful stretch of wetland and keep it from being ruined by the drilling of more wells, with additional separators, flares and oil or condensate tanks that give off toxic VOCs!

Contact Weld Air and Water to help prevent it.
Check out Frack Files on Facebook and the Facebook group Plains Alliance for Clean Air and Water

Video Introduction to Dangers and Health Effects of Fracking

This half hour video presentation tells the story of a Texas couple whose property is surrounded by over 62 gas wells within a 2 mile radius. Is it any wonder these people are suffering health effects from such concentration of air pollutants?

Click on the title of the video: Fracking - Dangerous Contamination

If you want to get a real idea of the devastation caused by gas exploration, take a drive along Weld County Rd 49 from Kersey to Hudson! We always take that road for a speedy trip to DIA via E-470.

This morning, still dark, we could see some drill rigs in the distance, lit up by extremely bright, Klieg lights. In some areas along the way, likely because of the cool temperatures, we could catch whiffs of petroleum coming into the car. Some of the gas wells, with tanks, and flares, sit extremely close to homes! What must it be like to live there?

Bad as it is to have drilling going on, the worst is yet to

come in the form of  fumes that are constantly emitted once

 the well is in production. No landscaping can hide that!

The tall flare and the three black  'chimneys' of the
separators emit harmful VOCs and contribute to rising ozone
levels in a county that already exceeds the threshold for it!

 Look at this 'battery' of 28 oil storage tanks. Greeley- Evans
 residents near Walmart will get a similar view with 32 tanks!

Below is the proposed site for the 67 gas wells. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued permits for them on May, 31st, but Mineral Resources, Inc., the mining company that will drill the wells, still needs to get permission from the Greeley Planning Commission. Since health or environmental concerns are not taken into consideration the project will most certainly get the green light....unless it is massively protested! 

Zoom in here. "A" shows the location where the drill rig will be put up behind Walmart and Frontier Academy (grades K-6). Note the field on left that already has eight gas wells and tanks. On the south of 32nd street are several apartment buildings.

Here you see the schematic of where the 32 oil storage tanks (red dots), and 30 gas separators (yellow stripes) will be placed. Note the proximity of Frontier's playground in the upper left corner, a mere tenth of a mile away from any VOCs escaping from the separators. 

A study by the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado showed that,

"residents living less than 1/2 mile from wells are at greater risk for health effects from natural gas development (NGD) than are residents living farther than one half mile away." 

See Human health risk assessment of air emissions from development of unconventional natural gas resources.

Greeley Gas Well Sites

These are producing, and planned gas well sites of Mineral Resources, Inc., our 'locally, privately held oil and natural gas producer'. Other companies have drill sites too. For a closer look, click on this link. Then, when you click on a red icon you can read how many wells are, or will be, there.

Aims Drill Site

Aims leases to Synergy Resources; receives $13,000 a month 

"It's another revenue source that will help keep us solvent,.. the kind of outside-the-box thinking that helps provide a safety net in the face of dramatic decreases in college funding from the state. " said Aims Community College president Marsi Liddell. ..The University of Northern Colorado and Weld County School District 6 in Greeley also have inked deals with energy companies." See: Weld County schools use oil, gas leases to tap into revenue streams - The Denver Post 

The drill rig at Aims Community College, located at the intersection of College Drive and Aims Blvd.

What was once arable land like this,

unfortunately changed into this. Zoom in to the green arrow to see the change!

These are the nine storage tanks for crude oil. They each hold 300 barrels, which is the equivalent of 12,600 gallons.

The crude oil is collected and transported off site by truck

Resembling a slim pot belly stove this is one of four flares that burns off excess gas 24/7.

You cannot see with the naked eye, that these flares emit noxious fumes and VOCs,

 but you can when you video record with zoom lens. Watch the video clip below. 

View Larger Map

Who decides to drill for gas and oil inside our town?

That's the question I asked Logan Richardson, Vice President of Mineral Resources. He answered:

"We have experiences where mineral owners have solicited our company and others to develop projects, other instances where cities and towns have solicited offers and we have been the initiator of new projects. The question of who spurs new development depends on the site and circumstance." 

Mineral Resources has initiated at least two big projects in town. According to an article in the Northern Colorado Business Report (Oct. 18, 2010) the company "bought a former woodworking shop to operate a site from which to drill multiple wells beneath the city." See: Richmark Energy buys Greeley building, land for well drilling.

 The 'Midtown Directional Project' will have 18 oil storage tanks, 37 separators and 2 flares on site, and was approved on May 31st by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Here is the location.

View Larger Map

 In a previous deal, the company drilled 34 wells from one site just south of the U.S. 34 Bypass and U.S. Highway 85 intersection in south Greeley. See photo below. If you zoom in, you can count the 34 well heads (square shapes) and the many gas separators. They each have a pipe which emits poisonous fumes 24/7, as do the two big flare stacks that resemble chimneys. They actually are, as they burn 'excess' gas. You see them centered, right of the green arrow. 

View Larger Map

Greeley surrounded by 20,000 oil and gas wells.

GREELEY Colo. — This is a town running on oil. From dawn till dusk, trucks carrying men and machinery rumble away for the oil and gas fields. About 425 wells are tucked within the city limits;..and that number is expected to grow to 1,600 in coming years. A vacant patch of grass near graduate student housing on the city's east side bears this sign: “Future Drilling Site.”

“These wells are going to be here for a long time,” said Wendy Highby, a librarian at the University of Northern Colorado who joined a group of residents to oppose the project . “They’re what we’re leaving to our children.”
 Read NY Times article: Supporting Oil and Gas, but Resisting Encroachment'

On May, 29, 2013, 100 barrels of brine water spilled to the ground, just 160 feet from the river. One barrel is 42 gallons. A valve on the tank had failed. 

See:  Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission  database ( May, 29, 2013 ).

Diesel smoke is spewed in big puffs 120 times an hour;
2880 times in 24 hours, for 5 to 8 days per well.
22 wells are planned at Island Grove