Garfield County Colorado commissioners will ask the state to reinstate a natural gas drilling moratorium in the east Mann creek area near Silt.  

Locals fear a dangerous repeat of a 2004 incident in which hydrocarbons and benzene seeped into a nearby creek.  In the wake of that incident,  EnCana Oil and gas was fined $371,200 and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, COGCC,  imposed a drilling moratorium.  The moratorium was later lifted but new drilling requirements were added.

In January one of EnCana’s wells saw a spike in gas pressure causing benzene contaminated water to flow from the well.  According to EnCana the leak occurred well below the drinking water aquifer, but residents are worried about contamination.  

Benzene is a cancer causing organic solvent used in many industrial applications.

“We ask that the moratorium be reinstated only until such time as a thorough and complete investigation can take place into the failure of stipulations to protect our health and safety as well as the environment,” -Lisa Bracken, area resident.

For those unfamiliar with natural gas drilling and the danger of chemical contamination of aquifers it may pose, allow me to provide a little background information.  Most natural gas wells are created through a process called hydraulic fracturing.  Pioneered by Haliburton, the process shoots large quantities of water, sand, and chemicals, including benzene, several miles underground in order to break up rock and release the natural gas.  This process was deemed safe by a 2004 EPA study which stated that hydraulic fracturing posed no threat to drinking water.  This study caused congress to exempt hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water act.  

So the process was at least officially considered safe, until more recent years when several contamination incidents occurred sparking an important debate as to weather chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing threaten drinking water.

Looking back across the industrial century, we cringe at the chemicals and emissions that were released into the air without restriction.  The health damaging air pollution problem was not foreseen by industry, nor would things have improved were they not challenged.   Looking back at those mistakes it seems absurd to this blogger to think we can now pump chemicals into the ground with no negative effects.

Tags: "hydraulic fracturing" benzene "aquifer contamination" "natural gas drilling", hydraulic fracturing, Information-News, natural gas drilling