OIL & GAS INFORMATIONAL MEETING

All parents and community members are invited to attend the public meeting regarding an Oil & Gas proposal for 19 Wells, 20 Tanks, 19 Separators and 2 Water Tanks to be located on the property located approximately 1,000 ft from the Frontier Elementary School Playground, and 581 ft from Walmart and in close proximity to neighboring businesses and housing.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th

5:00 p.m. at Frontier Academy Elementary School 

2560 W. 29th Street

Greeley

The City staff will explain the review process, and the operator (Extraction Oil & Gas formerly Mineral Resources Inc.) will provide information about the development plan. Citizens may ask questions. If you need further information please email FPG - Frontier Parent Group at fpg.parentgroup@gmail.com

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.

Commissioner Kirkmeyer: We Need More Injection Wells in Weld

During my own testimony to the COGCC I wondered where the woman on the commission was. "Where is your voice of reason? A woman on your commission, or several, might change this whole thing here." 

In retrospect I was naive to think that women commissioners would make much of a difference in permitting wells near homes and schools. There are many women in the oil and gas industry. Tischa Schuller is one. She is president of their trade group, COGA. She has no qualms about drilling inside city limits, nor does Barb Kirkmeyer, the one woman on our Weld County Commission, who hoped to become the next U.S. Representative for our area. 

In her campaign she claimed to be a "proud and consistent supporter of the Personhood movement, unambiguously defending life from conception." But, apparently she does not give the quality of life of children after they are born in an area inundated with oil and gas drilling much thought!

Barb Kirkmeyer and fellow Weld commissioners happily holding the big bucks check.

And Sarah McQuiddy, president of Greeley's Chamber of Commerce believes,

“It’s safe, affordable, reliable and clean, ...Weld County really is the epicenter for a new generation of energy development, as well as abundant benefits that bring the local community much support in an economic-development way.” 

Of course, she also praised our school district's strategic plan that eliminated play from kindergarten and subjected these kids to 90 minutes of mind numbing scripted literacy lessons each day!

But, I was especially taken aback by a mom with three young children going into Centennial Park Library where a friend was circulating the petition for initiative 88. I asked the woman if she wanted to sign the ballot initiative for greater setbacks from homes and schools and she said no.

"You think it is OK for children to be subjected to the hazards?" I asked and she said: "Yes, because my husband works in oil and gas." And so it is that there are also women without compassion or concerns for the well-being of children, even their own!

But to paint a picture of Weld commissioner Barb Kirkmeyer, below an account by Frontier Parent Trisha Golding who attended the lunch for the COGCC, catered by Dickey's barbecue pit.

.

First listen to this woman's testimony. She came all the way from Aurora to address the commission. The transcript of her comments are below, but you should really hear her speak! It's only 47 seconds.




"Five years ago Oklahoma had two earthquakes, last year they experienced a hundred, this year there were over two hundred. The petroleum institute in Oklahoma has no idea what might be causing these earthquakes. Not a clue! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that injecting millions of gallons of contaminated water into the earth is going to have a dire consequence, and now Greeley will be receiving Aurora's flowback water...To approve these exemptions would be foolhardy and would put more Greeley residents at risk, and I would suggest "Enough is enough!"

Enough is not enough for Barb Kirkmeyer. She wants more injection wells in Weld county! 

Here's what was discussed during the break.

"A few of us stayed for the lunch session. It was very interesting. The County Staff and COGCC Commissioners chatted for a long time about injection wells. Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer stated that Weld County needs more injection wells and COGCC is taking too long to complete the permitting process. 

COGCC stated there are 39 injection wells with permits in queue for the state, of those 20 are disposal class II injection wells...8 of those wells are in Weld County, 5 of the 8 have yet to be drilled and are waiting for EPA. The other 3 are in the drilling process. 

Kirkmeyer inquired if Weld County were to hire a person and lend him to the state to work on the injection well permits, would the state be able to expedite the backlog of permits at COGCC and start getting the permit time down? COGCC said they would be willing to look into this with Weld County. 

COGCC stated that Aurora is looking into bringing their wastewater to Weld also. Kirkmeyer stated again that more wells are needed. She said that overflow of wastewater is being trucked to WY and that it would be better to avoid them being on the roads. 

Another Weld County Commissioner asked (I’m sorry, I am unsure of who), if COGCC does permitting for storage of temporary waste. Lepore responded that he felt the city would be able to regulate that some. The weld county commission said that waste is being temporary stored in the easements of their well site in trucks and it seemed like there should be a violation assessed for unpermitted storage. 

He said operators are even storing the trucks of waste in other locations not suitable or permitted, but that it is less cost for them than setting up a commercial storage area. It was agreed that this was something to look further into and seek legal counsel."

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!