Colorado flooding shuts wells, triggers oil spills (photos) {photos at link, AP sourced}

AP via Fuel Fix ^ | September 19, 2013 | Colleen Slevin and Matthew Brown

[thackney]

Colorado’s flooding shut down hundreds of natural gas and oil wells in the state’s main petroleum-producing region, triggering at least two spills, temporarily suspending a multibillion-dollar drilling frenzy and sending inspectors into the field to gauge the extent of pollution.

Besides the possible environmental impact, flood damage to roads, railroads and other infrastructure will affect the region’s energy production for months to come. And analysts warn that images of flooded wellheads from the booming Wattenberg field will increase public pressure to impose restrictions on drilling techniques such as fracking.

“There’s been massive amounts of growth in the last two years and it’s certainly expected to continue,” Caitlyn McCrimmon, a senior research associate for Calgary-based energy consultant ITG Investment Research, said of Colorado oil and gas drilling. “The only real impediment to growth in this area would be if this gives enough ammunition to environmentalists to rally support for fracking bans, which they had started working on before this.”

Two spills were reported by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. — 323 barrels (13,500 gallon) along the St. Vrain River near Platteville, and 125 barrels (5,250 gallons) into the South Platte River near Milliken, federal and state regulators said. The St. Vrain feeds into the South Platte, which flows across Colorado’s plains and into Nebraska.

[thackney]

excerpted for AP content

[17th Miss Regt]

323 barrels (13,500 gallon) along the St. Vrain River near Platteville, and 125 barrels (5,250 gallons)

Those numbers are large enough that we are now, officially, all going to die.

[Rennes Templar]

“Nearly 1,900 wells were initially shut down by the flood, out of more than 51,000 statewide. No major well spills have been reported, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry group. It says there was no known hydraulic fracturing going on at the time of the flooding.

The largest producer in the basin, Houston-based Noble Energy, said two wells that were releasing natural gas have been shut down and a third would be shut down once it was safe to access the well. The company estimates that it has shut down between 5 and 10 percent of its wells because of flooding and has been monitoring them from the air and ground.”

But the Gaia crowd is freaking, will re-double efforts to convert us to an all-Amish society.

[Dusty Road]

I've cleaned up some pretty big spills but they’ve all been dry land spills and easy to clean. With the water running like they say it is I don't see much they can do about it. that's also a plus in that it disperses it pretty quick.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...both releases involved condensate, a mixture of oil and water...”
“...in both cases, the oil apparently was swept away by floodwaters...”

[Dusty Road]

They must have a different definition of condensate than I do. If in fact it is condensate I would have even less worries because that will flash of pretty fast.

[mountn man]

But the Gaia crowd is freaking, will re-double efforts to convert us to an all-Amish society.

Without the moral "constraints".

[Repeal The 17th]

Typical that the reporter provides not enough information to determine if the two “spills” (13,500 gallons and 5,250 gallons) were of “oily water” or “oil”.
At any rate, there is much more nasty stuff in the flood waters to be concerned about than that.
But the “evil petroleum companies” are a socially acceptable target for the reporter.

[Rennes Templar]

Worship of Mother Earth will be mandatory.

[Zathras]

If you watch the videos, they keep showing two sites over and over from different angles.
Colorado has thousands of oil and gas wells.

[Wonder Warthog]

Ludicrous. Given the huge volumes of water flowing, these spills will be diluted below detectability in a few miles of linear distance. The "answer to pollution "is" (sometimes) dilution".....

Of course, better not to have the spill happen, and I suspect there will be some push to include berms around active wells as standard well-site construction (if they're not already......if so, then they'll probably have to be a bit taller.

[RetiredTexasVet]

That was my first thought. Waste treatment plants washed away (sure wouldn’t want to be sipping water downstream), dead animal carcases, household food and other waste, commercial food and other waste, etc. Just unbelievable that their first worry is about a couple thousand gallons of oil.

[lurk]

It’s a good thing oil is a natural substance created by the earth and assimilated into nature very quickly. Otherwise, this would be something to be concerned about.