April 30, 2013 07:51 AM UTC

Will Parachute Creek Become Off Limits for Picnics and Fishing?

• 2 Comments
• by: Konola

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

There was another briefing in Parachute about the Williams Midstream disaster at Parachute Creek. You know it is serious when very senior people from COGCC, CDPHE, and EPA show up to face concerned citizens. Dave Keylor, Williams Midstream's vice president of Piceance Basin operations was in the room, but not part of the official panel.

The first week in April, at a meeting in Rifle, Keylor was one of the primary spokespeople. At that meeting we were told for the first time that there had been a previously unreported spill at the location where high concentrations of contaminants had been found. A spill that began in late December, or early January was not reported because it was less than 25 gallons. Bob Arrington, a resident of Battlement Mesa, retired engineer, and head of Western Colorado Congress’s Oil and Gas Committee estimated last night that the 25 gallons was more like 1,200 gallons based on his scientifically based calculations.

At the Rifle meeting, we were told that the source of the contaminants was unknown. By the end of April the source is known to be a gauge with a hole in it which controlled a 4 inch pipeline coming from a natural gas plant owned by Williams. Back when the source was unknown, Keylor said that about 6,000 gallons of hydrocarbons and about 252,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater had been pumped from the plume of contamination. Sometimes the information in these sessions is presented in gallons and sometimes it is presented in barrels. I’m not sure if this is a deliberate attempt to confuse the public, but for the record an oil barrel is 42 gallons. 

In Rifle we were shown maps of the contaminated area with detail about the number of monitoring wells drilled, the amount of benzene found at contaminated sites, and were assured that the plume was following the creek, but not in the creek. By late April, the benzene is in the creek. It is important to remember that more than benzene was leaked, but the focus is on benzene because it is a known carcinogen.

Safe levels of benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion. The creek is testing at over 5,000 parts per billion in places, but because the creek is not the source for any drinking water, the agencies aren’t as alarmed as ordinary citizens are. Citizens were relieved that Parachute and Battlement Mesa water is taken from the Colorado River upstream from the confluence of Parachute Creek and the Colorado River. Of course there are only 30 million people getting their drinking water downstream from that confluence.  

Ah, but here comes the good news. Benzene would rather be in air than in water, and it floats on water. Because there is more air than water in the arid west, the agencies in charge are planning to allow the benzene to evaporate into the air. In fact, they are going to encourage evaporation by installing bubblers (my term). Fish are attracted to bubbles in the water, so we might assume that fish are going to be attracted to the most dangerous parts of the stream. The representative from CDPHE admitted that he had not considered the impact on fish, amphibians, or wildlife. His admission was rapidly followed by a comment from a COGCC representative who indicated that he speaks regularly with the Colorado Department of Wildlife, also noticeably absent from this meeting.

Another agency absent was OSHA. There have been reports that workers were exposed to dangerous levels of contaminants without benefit of the protective gear required. A local reporter said he had spoken with some workers who claimed to stick their heads into places to see if they could smell contaminants. The workers expressed concern that they had been exposed to fatal levels of benzene. Keylor had something to say about that: any worker has the authority to stop a job at any time that s/he feels it is dangerous to proceed. That comment didn’t ring true with most of the citizens in the audience.

The real purpose of this meeting was to explain why primary jurisdiction was moved from COGCC to CDPHE. The simple version is authorizing statutes passed by the legislature. Depending on where product is in the production cycle, different agencies have primary jurisdiction. The confirmation that the contaminants came from a 4 inch pipe leaving the natural gas plant made CDPHE responsible.

CDPHE makes me nervous ever since I read Full Body Burden, Living in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kirsten Iverson. When cleaning up Rocky Flats they decided that a full clean-up was impossibly expensive, so the standards of remediation were lowered. Notice that the factor was not how safe it was for the public, but how expensive it would be for the government and responsible management companies at Rocky Flats. I’d like to believe that CDPHE is really concerned about the health of our ecosystems and citizens, but I have my doubts. Those doubts were reinforced when Dr. Urbina of both CDPHE and COGCC testified against having a health study of oil and gas health risks in the current legislative session. I also saw him in denial about the Doc Gag Order that got the medical association all worked up.

I hope you enjoy picnics on the banks of a stream where benzene is being pumped into the air, and fish that are flavored with benzene. That may be the future of Colorado’s streams.