May 02, 2017 02:22 PM UTC

Investigators Link Home Explosion in Firestone to Drilling Activity

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• by: Colorado Pols

Investigators continue to look into the massive home explosion in late April that killed two people and seriously injured two others north of Denver. As Cathy Proctor reports for the Denver Business Journal, the culprit of the home explosion is indeed a nearby gas well owned by Anadarko:

The Frederick-Firestone Fire Department on Tuesday said their investigation has linked the cause of a April 17 home blast that killed two men to gas from a line connected to an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. well in the vicinity.

“Investigators have reached the conclusion that the origin and cause of the explosion and subsequent fire … was unrefined, non-odorized gas that entered the home through a French drain and sump pit due to a cut, abandoned gas flow line attached to an oil and gas well in the vicinity that, while abandoned, had not been disconnected from the wellhead and capped,” said the department in a statement…

…Until today, there was no official finding that Anadarko’s operations had anything to do with the fatal blast.

Nevertheless, the tragedy — and Anadarko’s decision to shut down some 3,000 gas wells in the area — added fuel to the debates, underway across Colorado for years, about the proximity of oil and gas facilities and communities.