Democrats want House panel to explore impacts of oil spills caused by Colo. floods

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said in a statement that he has heard from numerous constituents in flooded areas who have told him they "are increasingly concerned about the toxic spills," and he said, "Congress must deal with this issue to ensure that natural disasters do not also become public health disasters."

Polis and Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, the ranking Democrat on the committee, last week sent a two-pageletter to committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) requesting a formal hearing on the issue.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), the state agency that regulates the industry, is tracking 12 "notable" oil releases that so far have spilled 37,380 gallons of oil, mostly into the South Platte River and its tributaries.

COGCC and U.S. EPA crews have already inspected hundreds of well sites to assess the damage as floodwaters recede and the sites become accessible.

"We are concerned that these spills and leaks may pose health risks to individuals who are already dealing with damage and destruction to their homes and property," DeFazio and Polis wrote in their letter to Hastings. "As Congress continues to consider policies to expand domestic oil and gas production, we would benefit from learning more about how disasters like this can impact local communities, states, and federal regulators. We respectfully request that you hold a committee hearing as soon as possible so that we may fully understand the potential grave consequences resulting from this flood."

It's unclear whether Hastings will grant a hearing. A spokesman in Hastings' office said late Friday that the office had not yet received the letter but that the committee chairman will review it once he sees it.

Two Colorado Republicans who sit on the Natural Resources Committee -- Reps. Doug Lamborn and Scott Tipton -- did not sign the letter.

'Historic proportions'

Polis already expressed concerns about possible health impacts associated with the oil spills in an earlierletter sent to Matt Lepore, the COGCC's director (EnergyWire, Sept. 20).

But the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA) defended the industry in an emailed statement, noting the "historic proportions" of the flooding that sent more than 220 million gallons of raw and treated sewage, animal waste from farms, household waste, and chemicals -- along with the 37,000 gallons of oil -- into the state's waterways.

"Immediately as weather reports began to come in, over 1,900 producing wells were shut in," meaning no oil and gas was flowing, said Doug Flanders, COGA's director of policy and external affairs. More than 1,000 wells remain shut in today.

Because the shut-in wells in question are all production wells, they were "not being hydraulically fractured," Flanders said.

"There were no hydraulic fracturing operations functioning when the floods hit the region, which means no fracking equipment or fracking chemicals on the well sites," he said. "To date, this [flood] has resulted in 12 notable incidents, or less than 1 percent of the shut-in facilities having any isolated incidents due to the debris-filled floodwaters. There have been no downhole well-bore incidents or leaks from the actual wells."

Flanders also pointed to public statements by Steve Gunderson, director of the state's Water Quality Control Division, who has noted that with the tremendous volume of floodwaters that were pushing down the South Platte River, the oil spills are comparable to "a drop in a bucket."

But Flanders said the industry takes the spills very seriously and that it continues to work with COGCC, EPA, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

"This natural disaster has shown that the industry is extraordinarily prepared, responsive in real time and focused on assisting our neighbors in this great state to rebuild," he said. "This is the time we, as Coloradans, need to work together to make Colorado stronger."

Mounting public concern

The request for a congressional hearing touches on more than public concerns over the impacts of spills in the heavily drilled Denver-Julesburg Basin on the state's north side; it also is the latest in the ongoing debate about increased drilling in general.

In the nearly two weeks since the rains stopped and the floodwaters began to recede, numerous pictures of overturned tanks and wells have been posted on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, reigniting the smoldering public debate over the safety of increased drilling that's part of the shale oil boom sparked by the Niobrara Shale formation that extends along the Front Range.

Environmentalists have called on the state to adopt new setback rules to keep oil and gas drilling activity farther from waterways. Others have called for a moratorium on drilling until the spills have been cleaned up.

"In addition to dealing with the cleanup and rebuilding, we need to see bills introduced to better control drilling and fracking near rivers and in floodplains," said Gary Wockner, Colorado program director for Clean Water Action in Denver.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who's considering calling a special legislative session to address flood recovery, has brushed aside those suggestions. During a tour of flood damage last week, he praised the industry for taking steps to secure drilling sites and equipment as the torrential rains that would soon lead to the catastrophic flooding began.

But there is growing public concern in Colorado about more wells being drilled in urban areas. One of the biggest public concerns is the use of hydraulic fracturing, which involves injecting water, sand and chemicals underground at high pressure to create fissures in tight rock formations, allowing oil and gas to flow to the surface.

Hickenlooper's administration has taken steps to address these concerns. Those include the approval by COGCC in February of a new statewide setback rule that, among other things, requires drilling operators to site rigs at least 500 feet from an "occupied structure" and sets into place a series of measures and precautions for wells drilled within 1,000 feet of a home (EnergyWire, Feb. 12).

This followed COGCC's approval of a set of regulations that made the state the first to require the oil and gas industry to test groundwater quality both before and after drilling (EnergyWire, Jan. 8).

But this month's devastating floods and the oil spills that followed have raised public concerns to a new level, and DeFazio and Polis said in their letter to Hastings that the "Committee and Congress would benefit from hearing firsthand accounts" from those on the front lines of the spill response.

"This is not a partisan issue," DeFazio said in a statement. "People dealing with [the] aftermath of a catastrophic natural disaster don't need to worry that their health is at risk because of oil and gas spills. Congress needs to hold a hearing so we can assess the consequences of this flood and figure how to bring relief to the affected communities."