Sand Creek spill: The South Platte is still testing positive for Benzene downstream of the spill

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Dealing with the Suncor spill north of Denver, detected in November 2011, still ranks among the toughest environmental challenges in the region. Another oil and gas industry spill this year tainted Parachute Creek in western Colorado with benzene. Spills from industry pipelines and storage facilities at 12 other locations have contaminated groundwater with benzene, prompting state health department orders for corrective action. About 20 percent of the 300-400 oil and gas spills reported annually to state commissioners reach groundwater.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is pressing companies responsible for the big spills to quickly remove all benzene from soil, water and air. But a review of Suncor case documents and interviews show that, even though benzene technically is easier than other toxic chemicals to remove, full cleanup can be complicated and slow…

CDPHE officials have identified a broken “dead-leg” pipe beneath a storage tank as the source of the Suncor spill. It was capped in February 2011, yet liquids that flowed from that pipe into an underground toxic plume continue to foul surface water in Sand Creek, which flows into the South Platte. Benzene-laced groundwater also has spread in other directions: along the concrete-lined Burlington irrigation ditch, beneath the adjacent Metro Wastewater Plant and under the bed of Sand Creek. The plume does not reach the river directly. The overall size is said to be stable or shrinking. But the levels of benzene — a widely-used a chemical contained in petroleum, known to cause blood cancer — this month remained around 33 parts per billion in the South Platte, state data show. The federal safe drinking water standard is 5 ppb. The river concentrations are down from 45 ppb in April and about 240 ppb a year ago. One mile downriver, the benzene dissipates to around 4 ppb, and 3 miles downriver the level is negligible. In Sand Creek, however, benzene remains significantly elevated, according to the data that comes from tests done by Suncor contractors…

Since 2011, he and other CDPHE officials have issued Suncor at least 10 formal orders to complete about 200 actions, including repairs near another storage tank. Today, underground walls of clay have been built around nearly half the known perimeter of the plume. Suncor crews have removed more than 1.2 million gallons of liquid hydrocarbons from trenches that crews dug after the spill was revealed. “The footprint of the contamination continues to shrink. The extensive remediation systems Suncor has designed and installed … are working effectively to reduce the contamination,” company vice president John Gallagher said in an e-mailed response to queries. “It is unlikely that there are other underground sources of contamination of a size that would reverse the positive trend we are seeing.”[...]

CDPHE officials in recent months have ordered the installation of more walls, monitoring wells to track toxic plumes, and aeration systems that suck benzene vapors from soil. More than 100 aeration wells have been placed between the refinery and Metro Wastewater, where required construction projects are in progress. Extracting benzene from soil is tricky because this transfers toxic material into the air. State air officials recently ordered Suncor to install emission controls, including charcoal filters, to minimize air pollution. They’ve directed Suncor to apply for an air pollution permit.

The CDPHE team also is demanding documentation of when and how broken pipes near storage tanks were repaired, including work orders. And CDPHE has ordered Suncor to hire an independent auditor to review its system for maintaining and inspecting storage tanks.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: ‘The deadline to meet drinking-water standards…is a very aggressive and challenging goal’ — Lisha Burnett (Suncor)

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Suncor had proposed that Metro Wastewater help handle the cleanup. Metro declined. “Petroleum-contaminated groundwater is not what the wastewater-treatment facility is designed for,” Metro Wastewater Reclamation District operations director Steven Rogowski said. “It isn’t our ratepayers’ responsibility to treat Suncor’s water.”[...]

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment regulators have set a May deadline for cleanup of all contaminated groundwater flowing from Suncor’s 300-acre refinery property…

The machinery set up by Suncor contractors, at a cost of $1 million, sits on Metro property along the river. Later this month, it will be ready to remove benzene and other toxic material as soon as it is detected in monitoring wells near Metro’s construction site. A permit issued by state regulators lets Suncor discharge 3,000 gallons per minute of treated groundwater pumped from Metro Wastewater property into either Sand Creek or the South Platte…

By May, Suncor must prove that groundwater migrating off Suncor’s property meets a state standard requiring the concentration of cancer-causing benzene to be below 5 parts per billion. That’s the federal health standard for drinking water. “The deadline to meet drinking-water standards next year is a very aggressive and challenging goal, and it is not certain that it can be achieved in this timeframe,” Suncor spokeswoman Lisha Burnett said Friday in an e-mailed response to queries. Suncor already has installed underground clay walls at the northern and western edges of its property — designed to hold back the thickest undissolved petroleum.

“Monitoring does not suggest that undissolved contaminants are escaping any longer,” CDPHE spokesman Mark Salley said…

The latest data show benzene also is still entering Sand Creek and the South Platte — with the concentration at 145 ppb this month in the river just below the confluence. That’s less than the benzene levels averaging above 200 ppb earlier in the year but still is 29 times higher than the 5 ppb federal health standard. Three monitoring wells in Sand Creek, near where the seepage was detected last fall, showed elevated benzene levels of 55 ppb, 212 ppb and 510 ppb.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Benzene levels have stabilized but the long-term mitigation schedule is cloudy for Suncor groundwater plume

From The Denver Post (Karen E. Crummy):

Current data show that surface-water levels of benzene at the point where the creek meets the South Platte River are still much higher than standards for drinking water, but remain stable. And the source of the leak — a pipe within the refinery — is fixed. But one health department official says a “mass of contamination” continues to dissolve into the groundwater, and isolated pockets of pollution — much of it underground — are spread over large areas within the refinery and off-site, making it difficult to locate.

While the state health department has tapped various methods of remediation, officials say it will take another two months to determine their effectiveness. Walter Avramenko, head of the state’s Hazardous Waste Corrective Action Unit, said it took two decades to study and remedy historical contamination at the refinery, part of a 75-year-old industrial site, and come up with a long-term management plan. “It took only a short period of time to reverse all those gains, and we’re not planning to wait another 20 years to fix it. We’re pushing the refinery very hard,” Avramenko said. “This is a very difficult, complex hydrogeologic environment for which there are no easy solutions.”

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Metro Wastewater is concerned that Suncor’s groundwater contamination could affect timeline for secondary treatment structure

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

The Metro Wastewater project is designed to remove ammonia and nitrates from Denver’s treated wastewater before it is discharged back into the South Platte River — part of $1.2 billion in improvements at the plant. CDPHE’s water-quality division has required the improvements to meet standards set by the federal government by 2015. Metro Wastewater must construct a large aeration basin structure where secondary treatment can be done. Metro excavation crews have dug out more than 130,000 cubic yards of dirt, pumping groundwater from the emerging hole. Construction crews have begun to build up the new structure.

The toxic plume appears to have approached the excavated area but has not entered it, Metro Wastewater spokesman Steve Frank said. “What we want from Suncor is to continue working on solving this problem,” Frank said. “We intend to do everything we can to remain in compliance with our discharge permit. Compliance is the norm for us.”

Suncor officials on Thursday said they will comply. “We’re meeting with Metro and are working with Metro to understand their construction plans and make sure we do everything we can to allow them to effectively do their work and meet their timelines,” Suncor vice president John Gallagher said. “This is really a potential problem rather than a problem.”[...]

The CDPHE notice to Suncor orders:

• A detailed map of the plume showing where benzene and other contamination exceeds state standards under the Metro Wastewater property.
• Monitoring of the groundwater outside the current extrapolated boundaries where the plume is believed to be — in areas where there’s no current contamination.
• New test wells and a groundwater monitoring plan within 30 days.
• A cleanup work plan, within 60 days, specifying how Suncor will reduce the contamination that has spread from its oil refinery under neighboring property.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Suncor hopes to contain plume of pollution permanently by fall

From the Commerce City Sentinel (Ben Wiebesiek):

[John Gallagher, vice president of refining for Suncor Energy] said the company built a 1000-foot trenching system on Metro Waste Water’s property in the area. “One of the trenches is a blocking wall, essential blocks all liquid hydrocarbons underground. The second, in front of that, is a collector trench, which has a number of sumps in it to take liquid materials up,” Gallagher said.

“We have also built on the same property, between Sand Creek and that wall, what we call a soil vapor extraction system where we’re taking hydrocarbon vapors up out of the soil and burning them in a gasoline engine.” Gallagher said the trenching system on the waste water treatment facility property is now 100 percent complete. Gallagher anticipates the completion of the vapor extraction system April 30. “We have 90 percent of a 2,100-foot trenching system on Suncor’s property to protect our boundaries,” Gallagher said. “If you think about it very simplistically, our overall strategy is to move off of the river, which is done, move up to the trenching system and then back onto our own property over the next several months.”

Gallagher admitted there were still trace levels of benzene going into Sand Creek. “This is within the parts per billion range,” he said. “And we are working diligently to reduce that, get it back to drinking-water quality.”

The permanent protection system will be complete by last summer, early fall, Gallagher said. “We should be seeing some very dramatic results. Right now, we’re seeing some results, some improvement, but the permanent system needs to be in play before we see everything go our way,” Gallagher said.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: So far Suncor Energy has not been able to stanch the flow of polluted groundwater

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Neither state regulators nor Suncor has calculated how much cancer-causing benzene and other contaminants have entered the waterways from an underground plume spreading from the refinery under the adjacent Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant. But interceptor trenches, vapor-extraction systems and recovery wells over the past five months have removed about 697,200 gallons of material from the ground, Suncor officials said Tuesday in a response to Denver Post queries.

A fountain aeration system designed to separate benzene from water, before the creek reaches the river, has been shut down. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment regulators ordered the shutdown April 24. Health department spokesman Warren Smith said this was done to evaluate the effectiveness of Suncor’s underground walls and extraction systems installed on Metro Wastewater property near Sand Creek. Smith acknowledged “fluctuations” in benzene levels in the creek and river but disputed any overall upward trend…

“We believe that the permanent solutions being installed and operated — trenching systems and treatment systems on both Suncor and Metro’s property — will effectively isolate and manage the plume and dramatically lower the dissolved benzene level in Sand Creek,” company vice president John Gallagher said in a prepared response. The latest water-test data show benzene levels at 400 parts per billion or higher in the South Platte and at two monitoring wells along Sand Creek. The federal drinking-water standard for benzene is 5 ppb. At the South Platte location (about 50 feet downriver from the confluence with Sand Creek), the 400 ppb detected April 25 was more than double the 180 ppb recorded April 6 and 73 percent higher than the 230 ppb recorded Dec. 2 — when EPA overseers launched an emergency response. Three monitoring sites along Sand Creek were tested April 2-4 and again April 9. During that period, benzene levels at the sites increased — to 150 ppb from 12 ppb; to 490 ppb from 89 ppb; and then to 510 ppb from 73 ppb. On April 25, the two sites nearest the creek bank, where black goo began oozing into the creek in November, still showed benzene concentrations of 410 ppb and 450 ppb.

More Sand Creek coverage here. More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Suncor Energy hopes to volatize benzene into the atmosphere to reduce levels in the creek and the South Platte River

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

This poses a regulatory dilemma: Is it worse to release benzene into the air or into the water? Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment regulators haven’t decided. “It’s an important balancing act,” spokesman Warren Smith said. “We want to protect both as best we can.”

The latest test data show benzene concentrations in the South Platte River remain more than 30 times higher than the federal drinking-water standard of 5 parts per billion. In an attempt to reduce those levels, a diesel-powered pump pulls 500 gallons a minute out of Sand Creek and returns it to the stream in an aerial arc. The action is designed to free the benzene from the water before it lands back in the stream…

The fountain aeration — a temporary fix — is part of Suncor’s overall cleanup efforts following the discovery in November of an underground plume of hydrocarbon material from the refinery oozing into the water from creek banks.

Suncor recently completed two underground walls designed to intercept toxic material spreading from the refinery. Sump pumps and vacuum systems near the walls are designed to remove liquid hydrocarbons and toxic vapors from contaminated soil. A Suncor environmental contractor’s map, released by CDPHE, shows an underground plume of benzene and other contaminants spreading under the adjacent Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant and nearly reaching the South Platte directly upriver from the confluence with Sand Creek. This plume also is spreading under the open space greenway bicycle corridor toward Interstate 270. Four monitoring wells — a fifth is planned — may help monitor the eastern edge of the plume. Benzene concentrations are low and decreasing at far edges of the plume but reach as high as 10,000 parts per billion (ppb) at the center. Suncor crews have completed a 1,000-foot wall on Metro Wastewater property to shield Sand Creek. They built a 2,100-foot wall at the western edge of Suncor’s property.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Benzene laden groundwater flows are still reaching the creek

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

State regulators say they’re working with Suncor to find a way to block the toxic material from burbling into the bed of Sand Creek. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data — from samples taken by Suncor — showed benzene concentrations at 720 parts per billion on Jan. 9 at the point where Sand Creek meets the South Platte, up from 190 on Jan. 6, and 144 times higher than the 5 ppb national drinking-water standard. Benzene is a chemical found in crude oil that is classified as cancer-causing, especially affecting blood. Downriver on the South Platte, the data show benzene at 240 ppb on Jan. 9, a decrease from 590 on Jan. 6 but still 48 times higher than the standard…

Spilled contaminants from decades of refinery operations at the site have seeped underground, “and it is snaking through. The pressures change. It finds the path of least resistance, and that’s apparently what has happened: It has found the path of least resistance to get into Sand Creek,” Colorado health department environmental-programs director Martha Rudolph said in an interview last week…

Preventing further pollution of Sand Creek has become a top-tier priority, Rudolph said. “We need to accelerate our responding to that particular issue — to get it out of Sand Creek, to stop that.”[...]

OSHA lacks jurisdiction to look into the situation at the nearby Metro Wastewater plant, where toxic vapors forced workers to wear respirators and the closure of a technical-services building.
That building was reopened last week. Workers no longer wear respirators, and after three rounds of drinking-water tests, no benzene has been detected, Metro Wastewater spokesman Steve Frank said…

Suncor will build a large slurry wall made of claylike material along Sand Creek and collector trenches to protect waterways — as well as a trench system and wall on Suncor’s property to prevent the spread of hydrocarbons, she said.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Suncor spill may have started a year ago

From CBSDenver.com:

“Our focus right now is to try to contain it onto Suncor’s property,” [Robert Beierle with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment] said. The health department says they were notified of the problem’s start last February. “Of the pipeline that failed pressure testing, which was thought to be probably the source or one of the sources of this material we’re migrating off site right now,” Beierle said. “It’s the only source were aware of and it’s certainly in their best interest to stop it on their property.”

Suncor hasn’t confirmed where the gasoline-like leak began but is cooperating with all aspects of the clean-up, according the health department. Once the trench is complete the Canadian-based energy company will then move back onto their property to install a second trench.

Suncor says they do not believe there is any leak at this time.

More coverage from Carlos Illescas writing for The Denver Post. From the article:

Suncor Energy crews are working on a collector trench on property owned by Metro Wastewater, trying to stop the black gunk flowing from under its refinery north of Denver from reaching Burlington Ditch, Sand Creek and the South Platte River. An access agreement was reached last week, and Suncor started work on the trench Monday, said Suncor’s vice president for refining, John Gallagher. The goal, Gallagher said, is to prevent more petroleum-based contaminants from reaching the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District’s property, which is adjacent to the refinery and the waterways…

Gallagher said the trench should be completed by the end of the month. The company also is working to complete an underground clay wall at the refinery to block toxic material from leaving the Suncor property, which has been home to oil-refining activities since the 1930s. “We’ll do everything we can to make this situation right,” Gallagher said Tuesday.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment orders Suncor to prevent new offsite contamination

Here’s the release from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (Warren Smith):

The Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment today issued additional orders to Suncor Energy (USA) Inc. as the company works to clean up a release of petroleum products from its Commerce City refinery.

The new order responds to liquid hydrocarbons from petroleum contamination detected on the water table at the southwest corner of Suncor’s Plant 1, near the Suncor property boundary with Republic Paperboard Co., 5501 Brighton Blvd in Commerce City.

“We are concerned that the petroleum contamination may begin to move from the Suncor property to the Denver Metro Wastewater Reclamation District property in a second location,” said Walter Avramenko, leader of the Hazardous Waste Corrective Action Unit. “We also want to prevent contamination of the Burlington Ditch and impacts to indoor air quality at Republic Paperboard. We can’t afford to wait for the problem to emerge, and we believe that something must be done immediately to slow and reverse what we suspect may be happening under this section of Suncor’s property.”

The department ordered Suncor to perform the following interim measures by the specified deadlines:

Suncor must immediately begin securing access and sampling indoor air in all Republic Paperboard Co. buildings to determine indoor air quality, comparing test results to the department’s action levels for workers including, but not limited to, benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylenes. Suncor also must collect outdoor air samples to help distinguish between vapors coming from contaminated groundwater and vapors in the outside air.

If indoor air samples exceed worker action levels and are determined to come from contaminated groundwater, Suncor Energy must install a mitigation system on any affected buildings within seven days. All the buildings on the Republic Paperboard property must be sampled and, if necessary, mitigated by Feb. 29. Suncor also must report air sampling results and mitigation status to the department by that date. Suncor must inventory and sample all water taps used by employees in Republic Paperboard buildings for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing and report the results to the department by Feb. 29. Suncor also must submit detailed information about Republic Paperboard’s water distribution system to the department by that date.

Suncor must immediately begin a quick-turnaround field investigation of groundwater beneath Republic Paperboard property and the south end of the Burlington Ditch slurry wall (an underground wall designed to intercept groundwater flow) to verify that contamination has not migrated around, under or into the ditch. Results are due to the department by Jan. 31.

Suncor must immediately begin a long-term groundwater investigation beneath Republic Paperboard property and the Burlington Ditch slurry wall to determine whether additional steps are needed to contain contamination on Suncor property, and to determine if contamination is affecting the Burlington Ditch or Republic Paperboard. This investigation will require Suncor to install new, permanent monitoring wells. Suncor must submit laboratory results to the department by March 16.

Suncor must begin evaluating options for extending the southern end of the Burlington Ditch slurry wall to prevent contamination from migrating under the ditch. Suncor must submit a proposal to the department by March 16.

The Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division is coordinating with the department’s Water Quality Control Division, the Environmental Protection Agency, Tri- County Health Department, Denver Water and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Previous orders remain in effect, including those requiring water sampling in Sand Creek and South Platte River. Suncor is responsible for cleaning up the effects of releases from its refinery regardless of how far downstream they extend.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will continue to update the public as the situation changes and additional orders refining the cleanup operation are issued.

Sand Creek: Benzene laden flows from the Suncor refinery are still discharging into the surface water

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data — from samples taken by Suncor — showed benzene concentrations at 720 parts per billion on Jan. 9 at the point where Sand Creek meets the South Platte, up from 190 on Jan. 6, and 144 times higher than the 5 ppb national drinking-water standard. Benzene is a chemical found in crude oil that is classified as cancer-causing, especially affecting blood. Downriver on the South Platte, the data show benzene at 240 ppb on Jan. 9, a decrease from 590 on Jan. 6 but still 48 times higher than the standard…

Spilled contaminants from decades of refinery operations at the site have seeped underground, “and it is snaking through. The pressures change. It finds the path of least resistance, and that’s apparently what has happened: It has found the path of least resistance to get into Sand Creek,” Colorado health department environmental-programs director Martha Rudolph said in an interview last week…

Suncor officials Friday said blood tests were done on 675 employees and contractors. Suncor cannot comment on results, spokeswoman Lisha Burnett said. “Any retesting that may be required is handled between the individual and a doctor.” Refinery crews are excavating water pipelines and have not found any breaks or cracks, Burnett said. “One theory that we’re investigating is the permeation of hydrocarbons through plastic pipe.”

Suncor will build a large slurry wall made of claylike material along Sand Creek and collector trenches to protect waterways — as well as a trench system and wall on Suncor’s property to prevent the spread of hydrocarbons, she said.

More Sand Creek coverage here.

Sand Creek: Suncor employees tested for benzene exposure

From TheDenverChannel.com (Lance Hernandez):

State health officials tested the water in December after an employee told them he thought it had a chemical smell. Company spokeswoman Lisha Burnett said trace amounts of benzene were found in two faucets at the sprawling facility and that “all other refinery locations have been confirmed to meet drinking water standards.”[...]

Dr. Chris Urbina, the state’s chief medical officer, told 7NEWS the longer one is exposed to benzene the greater the risk. “We could see an increased heart rate, confusion, lethargy, headaches, nausea and vomiting if they consume it,” the doctor said. “And of course, it can lead to death of you’re exposed to large quantities of benzene.” Urbina said one of the long-term impacts is leukemia…

Urbina said Suncor’s water system is a closed system. He said however the benzene is getting into the drinking water at Suncor, it is not contaminating the drinking water of any other Denver Water customers.

Thanks to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Twitter feed (@cdphe) for the link.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Suncor employees have been exposed to benzene in their water supply

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

Workers at Suncor Energy’s oil refinery — nearly all 500 — have had their blood tested for benzene as Suncor excavates pipelines to deal with tainted tap water and tries to contain contamination of Sand Creek. Nobody knows how long drinking water at Suncor’s refinery has contained benzene. Results of blood tests at an occupational medicine clinic, done partly to reassure employees, were kept confidential…

“We believe we have a breach in the drinking water line near one of our office buildings,” Gallagher said. “We’re digging down to that pipeline to see what we can find.”[...]

Denver Water, which delivers water to Suncor, has determined that no benzene entered the metro pipe system, utility spokeswoman Stacy Chesney said.

Click through for the cool photo slideshow.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Suncor groundwater contamination prompts additional measures from the CDPHE

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

State health officials ordered additional measures on Friday afternoon to minimize environmental harm and prevent people from ingesting contaminated water. Those measures include posting of “Drinking Water Warning” signs at the refinery. Benzene levels in Sand Creek are fluctuating but reached 670 parts per billion on Dec. 22 — 134 times higher than the 5 ppb national drinking water standard. An anonymous tip from a Suncor employee Thursday alerted state health officials to contamination in tap water on the refinery property…

Denver Water authorities, notified around noon Friday by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, immediately began testing the city’s water system for benzene, which can cause anemia, blood problems and cancer. Denver Water reviewed data from recent tests for benzene and found no elevated levels, utility spokeswoman Stacy Chesney said…

Over the past several weeks, however, monitoring along the creek found that petroleum is entering the creek directly without surfacing, said Warren Smith, a state health spokesman. “The dissolved material is coming in through the bottom of the channel, not through a seep on the bank,” Smith said. The state order requires installation of “an air sparging system” in Sand Creek — similar to a fish tank aerator — by Jan. 6. This is meant to help benzene and other contaminants in the creek evaporate into the air, instead of flowing into the South Platte.

The order also requires Suncor to install a soil vapor extraction system and dig a second “interceptor trench” by Jan. 31 to try to trap hydrocarbons floating in groundwater before they enter Sand Creek. Suncor has tried to make the first trench work better and is providing bottled water to workers, Smith said. Company contractors also have tested 50 of 57 buildings at the adjacent Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant for toxic vapors, finding problems in two. Toxic vapor removal systems have been installed along with a filter and a ventilator on other buildings, he said.

More Sand Creek spill coverage here. More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Aurora comments on the spill and water quality — no effects

From the Aurora Sentinel (Sara Castellanos):

Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Matthew Allen said Monday a 240-foot trench completed over the weekend is preventing a gasoline-like substance from seeping from the Suncor Energy refinery into Sand Creek and the South Platte River.

The city’s Prairie Waters Project pumps groundwater from the South Platte downstream of the spill back to Aurora for treatment and use in the city’s water system…

Aurora’s water supply is derived primarily from snowmelt runoff in the Colorado, Arkansas and South Platte river basins far upstream of the and unrelated to the toxic spill. Aurora Water officials received notice from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment about an unknown substance potentially in a tributary of the South Platte River on Nov. 28, said Greg Baker, spokesman for Aurora Water…

“While a small percentage (of Aurora’s water) comes from the South Platte downstream of the impacted site, we are not currently taking water from the river because of our typical, seasonal, low water demands,” [Greg Baker, spokesman for Aurora Water] said. “If contamination were to occur at a time when we were using our South Platte River supply, we have numerous protocols in place to ensure that any impact on the river will not affect our drinking water supply.”

More coverage from TheDenverChannel.com (Ryan Budnick). From the article:

Matthew Allen, spokesman with the EPA, said work crews have pulled 3,500 gallons of gas-like material during the site cleanup…

The plume of highly-toxic liquid was noticed spilling into nearby Sand Creek in the end of November from a Suncor Energy refinery. Since it was identified, the EPA, Suncor Energy and the State of Colorado have been working around the clock to contain the pollution and clean up its remains.

More Sand Creek spill coverage here. More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: Suncor crews are constructing a trench to intercept the benzene laden flows

Here’s a report from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. He, and the Post in general, have done a very comprehensive job of covering the spill so far. Click through for the whole article and video of the cleanup. Here’s an excerpt:

The latest data show the concentration of cancer-causing benzene at levels 69 times higher than the national drinking-water standards at the point where Sand Creek enters the South Platte River.

Once the trench is completed, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emergency-response coordinators said, the EPA will scale back the federal role and rely on Colorado health officials to oversee a long-term cleanup…

About 100 feet of the trench is complete. Suncor refining vice president John Gallagher said he expects the work to be completed next week.

Kimbel said state health and Suncor officials now “have got to figure out what the source is, how it is getting there and what they have to do to address it.”[...]

EPA contractors have begun testing for benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene and on Friday released results from Tuesday and Wednesday. Tests of samples drawn from Sand Creek on Wednesday show benzene concentrations of 1,970 parts per billion at the point where the liquid enters the creek, and 348 ppb at the point where the creek flows into the South Platte. Tests at a location across the main channel of the South Platte showed a concentration of 108 ppb.

More coverage from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. From the article:

No public health warnings have been issued. Kimbel said today that people who stay on the bike path along the Sand Creek Regional Greenway should be safe. A well-delineated “hot zone” has been set up around the area where clean-up crews are working to stop the flow of contaminants into the creek.

Battling snow, freezing temperatures and mud, they have been pushing to catch and contain the liquid as it seeps from the shoreline, preventing further contamination of the creek and South Platte River. Workers also have used heavy machinery to buttress absorbent booms strung across the creek. Suncor is taking “all the action that we believe is necessary,” said John Gallagher, company vice president for refining.

But there’s no easy end in sight to the situation in this industrial zone — a situation that over the past year took a turn for the worse with new hydrocarbon and dissolved petroleum compounds moving in groundwater and surfacing as vapors in nearby Metro Wastewater buildings…

Even before Suncor bought the refinery from Conoco in 2003, pollution now migrating to the wastewater plant — where one building is partly closed and workers have been forced to wear respirators — was documented. Oil refineries have existed at the Suncor property under various owners since the 1930s. About 300 groundwater wells have been drilled around the property and at the wastewater plant to track contamination — 25 of them capable of recovering liquids. Much of what regulators have been monitoring is described as “legacy contamination,” consisting of “mostly tarry asphaltic pockets of petroleum products underground that have not been moving,” said Warren Smith, a state health department spokesman.

More Sand Creek spill coverage here. More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: The EPA determines that benzene is present in the gasoline-like substance oozing into the waterway

Here’s the latest on the spill from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. The Post is running another photo slideshow of the cleanup and one of Suncor contractors. Click through and read the whole article, Mr. Finley provides a history of the refinery and pollution problems there. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

PA lab test results released Thursday evening indicate benzene concentrations ranging from 2,000 parts per billion, where the liquid enters Sand Creek, to 480 ppb, where the creek enters the South Platte River — well above the 5 ppb national drinking-water standard…

No public health warnings have been issued.

Battling snow, freezing temperatures and mud, workers contracted by Suncor and the EPA pushed ahead, digging 50 feet of a trench to be lined with gravel and plastic — to catch and contain the liquid as it seeps from the shoreline, preventing further contamination of the creek and South Platte River. Workers inside “hot zone” boundaries rotated shifts against the cold, using heavy machinery to buttress absorbent booms strung across the creek as currents flowed faster and higher as a result of the snowfall…

The state Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division order requires Suncor to conduct daily inspections along Sand Creek; sample water along the creek; monitor air at the Metro Wastewater plant (for benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, xylenes) and install ventilation systems if necessary; investigate groundwater contamination under the plant; install by Dec. 31 a system to intercept all liquids entering Sand Creek; and clean up any oil on the banks of Sand Creek and the South Platte by March…

“The contamination is evidently more extensive and mobile than originally believed and conditions in the subsurface may be changing in response to seasonal influences,” [state hazardous materials unit corrective action leader Walter Avramenko] said in the order served Thursday, “all of which may have caused the contamination to express itself in the form of one or more seeps discharging into Sand Creek and vapors intruding into buildings overlying the plume.”

More coverage from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. From the article:

“We believe its source is from our refinery,” Suncor Energy refining vice president John Gallagher said this morning. Gallagher said Suncor has developed a plan to mitigate the plume and is working with state and federal agencies.

Thursday afternoon, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued a written order specifying actions the company must take to address on- and offsite contamination.

More coverage from The Los Angeles Times

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials told the Denver Post that the goo, which has been seeping into a local creek for days, contains cancer-causing benzene. Its spread appears to have been contained.

A Suncor Energy refinery near the small plume is responsible for the black muck, the company’s vice president of refining, John Gallagher, told the Associated Press. But Gallagher was unsure of its exact source or components.

More coverage from the Associated Press via CBSNews.com. From the article:

“We were very surprised,” [Hazardous Waste Corrective Action Unit supervisor, Walter Avramenko] said Wednesday of the oily substance seeping into the creek from the refinery, which for decades has been dealing with contamination. “It’s a fairly sizable quantity of oil.”[...]

Avramenko said Suncor reported the leak in a capped section of pipe that comes off a pipeline that runs between a storage tank and the refinery. Suncor Energy Inc.’s vice president of refining, John Gallagher, said a crude oil pipeline to the refinery from Wyoming has been ruled out as a source. He said the company is responsible for the substance leaking into the creek but said it’s “dealing in facts, not speculation” about where it’s coming from…

Gallagher said the refinery produces jet fuel, gasoline, diesel fuel, and asphalt mostly from oil from Colorado and Wyoming. About 10 to 15 percent of the oil refined there comes from oil sands from Canada, Gallagher said, adding that the refinery has been there since 1938 and was designed to handle local crude. The Calgary, Canada-based company has three refineries in Canada and in Commerce City.

State health officials have long known about pools of oil in the ground from the 1980s and 1990s when it was owned by other companies. Avramenko said those former pools of oil had become more tar-like, stable and less likely to move off the refinery grounds. Monitoring wells showed that the groundwater quality had even improved over the years as the refinery pumped groundwater to rid it of contaminates and took other measures as part of a state health department corrective order over contamination.

Last year, Avramenko said monitoring wells detected elevated levels of petroleum contaminates between the creek and an underground barrier wall, called a curtain, that is meant to contain the contamination on refinery grounds. Suncor repaired a corroded outlet pipe on that barrier that was suspected of allowing contaminates to leave the refinery.

But then Suncor reported other anomalies, including an oily sheen on a pond and in a ditch on refinery grounds, as well as an oily sheen in the creek this summer that went away.

More coverage from Reuters via the Calgary Herald. From the article:

A petroleum spill near Suncor Energy’s Denver-area refinery has been contained and does not come from the Canadian oilsands, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday…”We’re not dealing with tarsands here,” EPA spokesman Matthew Allen told Reuters. “It is refined product.”

More coverage from the Associated Press via CBSNews.com. From the article:

State health officials on Thursday ordered Suncor Energy to immediately begin testing the air inside the Denver Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant to ensure worker safety near where a gasoline-like substance from the company’s refinery was detected seeping into Sand Creek earlier this week. Suncor Energy Inc. must test the air for the known carcinogen benzene, as well as suspected carcinogens and other chemicals, and install a ventilation system if high levels are found, according to the order. Suncor must also step up water sampling in the creek and set up a system to recover any petroleum seeping into the creek by Dec. 31.

More coverage from Bloomberg News (Gene Laverty). From the article:

Suncor Energy Inc. has started work on a trench to contain a “gasoline-type” substance that is seeping near its Commerce City, Colorado, refinery. “It’s a more long-term system to capture and contain the seepage,” Karen Edson, a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said in a telephone interview from the site near Denver. “They’ve virtually contained all the material.”

More coverage along with a video report from 9News.com (Jeffrey Wolf/Eric Kahnert). From the article:

EPA lab results released Thursday evening show benzene concentrations ranging from 2,000 parts per billion around the location of the seep and 480 ppb where the creek enters the South Platte. The national drinking water standard is 5 ppb. Some of the oil did get into the South Platte River.

Suncor says its 60 person emergency response team was able to get the area contained. “We believe we have stopped all of the materials from entering the water ways at this point. The progress we’ve made today, we’ve started building a trench between the diked area, and we’re going to build a trench there for a secondary level of protection,” John Gallagher, Suncor Energy refining vice president, said…

The [Colorado Department of Health and Environment] says it is talking to the Attorney General about possible enforcement action against Suncor over the incident.

More Sand Creek spill coverage here. More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Curtis Kimbel (EPA): ‘The material appears to be coming from Suncor property, migrating under the Metro Wastewater property and daylighting in Sand Creek’

From The Denver Post (Bruce Finley):

“The material appears to be coming from Suncor property, migrating under the Metro Wastewater property and daylighting in Sand Creek,” said EPA emergency response manager Curtis Kimbel.

State health department managers today told the Associated Press that Suncor Energy reported a break in a spur of an underground pipe that runs between a storage tank and refinery about a half mile from where the oily ooze is leaking into the creek.

Hazardous Waste Corrective Action Unit supervisor Walter Avramenko said more tests are needed to confirm the break is the source…

The EPA also has launched comprehensive water and soil sampling along Sand Creek and the South Platte. The first lab results from earlier tests are expected this afternoon, and EPA contractor said.

First responders are still using vapor monitors that indicate an ongoing need for respirators.

Meawhile Reuters Africa is reporting the Suncorp says they’ve stanched the leak. Here’s an excerpt:

Suncor Energy said on Wednesday it has contained a leak of an oily substance near its Commerce City refinery in Colorado that was running into Sand Creek…

The Canadian energy firm said it had not yet identified the source of the leak, but acknowledged it was likely coming from its 93,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in the area. It said plant operations were unaffected…

EPA spokeswoman Karen Edson said workers were using absorbent booms to contain the substance along a 200- to 300-meter stretch of the Sand Creek. Suncor workers are also building a ditch to keep it from flowing further, she said…

Suncor’s Commerce City plant recently underwent a $540 million upgrade to enable it to handle more heavy oil sands crude from Canada.

While minor spills and leaks are not uncommon near major energy facilities, a series of larger pipeline leaks in recent years and fierce resistance to a proposed major new conduit from Canada has heightened awareness of the environmental risks they pose.

Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment issued Suncor’s Commerce City plant a compliance order on October 26, 2011, a copy of which was sent to Reuters.

The order says that a department investigation indicated “that recent releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents on-site, are now migrating off-site in excess of applicable standards.”

The order set specific dates for Suncor to show it was complying with health and safety orders at its facility.

“The seeps that began on Sunday would appear to be different from the issues that are discussed in the compliance order,” said Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “However, that is going to be subject to investigation.”

More coverage from Anthony Swift writing for the Switchboard. From the article:

The spill was discovered on Sunday morning by Trevor Tanner, a fisherman who saw sheen on the South Platte River and said the area smelled like a gas station. In his account:

“I walked several hundred feet up Sand-Creek and there was an oil sheen the whole way and there was even a weird milky chocolaty sludge trapped in the small back-eddy below the confluence. My fly smelled like gasoline. My fingers smelled like gasoline. I could see micro-currents and upwells in the water column that you usually just can’t see. Something was terribly wrong.”

When Mr. Tanner found the hotline number and called it, the spill response coordinator initially wanted him to call back in twenty minutes. On Monday officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) arrived onsite and Suncor reported a leak. On Tuesday evening Suncor and EPA officials decided to dig a trench. This afternoon, EPA officials announced that three small booms erected on a bank of Sannd Creek appear to be containing the oil and preventing further contamination.

More coverage from David O. Williams writing for the Colorado Independent. Here’s an excerpt:

Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates linked the spill, which is now being investigated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to the recent announcement by Anadarko Petroleum that up to a billion barrels of oil may be recoverable in the Wattenberg Field over the Niobrara Shale formation in Weld County.

WRA officials are concerned that the Suncor spill into Sand Creek north of Denver has already made it into the South Platte, which is a major water source for Colorado’s Front Range. Stepped up drilling by Anadarko and other companies in the state’s most populous areas could have similar consequences, the group argues.

“Municipal water systems are designed to treat bacteria and pathogens, but not hydrocarbons like those that might come from an oil refinery,” said Drew Beckwith, WRA’s water policy manager. “That’s not to say that the water can’t be kept safe, but we need to consider the potential consequences before something like this happens on a larger scale. The potential for problems becomes exponentially greater as drilling moves closer to population centers.”

More coverage from the Environmental News Service. Here’s an excerpt:

Suncor is the oldest of the tar sands producers; up to 90 percent of its production is derived from tar sands bitumen. Suncor recently upgraded the Commerce City facility so it could refine more heavy tar sands crude coming in from northern Alberta, Canada via the Express and Platte pipelines.

The extent of the contamination is still unclear, said Mogerman, who says much of the spill could be escaping the booms set out to contain it. “If the leak involves tar sands diluted bitumen, the contamination could be more severe,” he said. “Tar sands diluted bitumen spills are associated with significantly more submerged oil, which cannot be contained by surface booms.”

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Sand Creek: The Environmental Protection Agency has taken over at the spill site near Commerce City

Here’s an in-depth report about the spill and cleanup efforts from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post. Click through and read the whole thing, check out the cool video and photo slide show. Here’s an excerpt:

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials have known about hazardous leakages in the area for at least a month, documents show. And for a week, toxic vapors at the nearby Metro Wastewater Reclamation District facility have forced workers to wear respirators. But nobody checked the rivers or tried to stop the seepage. Damage remains unassessed.

Suncor Energy cleanup crews slogged through the muck and used vacuum trucks Tuesday to remove surface material caught in booms strung across Sand Creek northwest of the company’s oil refinery. Late Tuesday, they began digging a trench to try to catch the muck as it leaks out of the bank of Sand Creek.

“We want to keep that out of the river — protect the river,” said Curtis Kimbel, the Environmental Protection Agency’s on-scene coordinator.

Lab tests of water and soil samples taken late Monday and early Tuesday have not been completed, and the source remained a mystery in an industrial area where refineries have existed since 1938. “But based on the odor and the sheen, we don’t want it to go in the river,” Kimbel said.

More coverage from 9News.com (Jeffrey Wolf/Brandon Rittiman/Kyle Clark):

State officials say the refinery suspected of leaking the possibly hazardous liquids into Sand Creek has been under a corrective order for several decades because of contaminated groundwater. Colorado health department spokesman Warren Smith says the state has been monitoring contaminated plumes from the Suncor Energy refinery and he says it’s likely the source of an oily liquid that has been seeping into the creek about a mile from the refinery…

“We don’t how much went downstream. We do know now that it is contained,” Karen Edson with the EPA said. The EPA says the amount that went downstream isn’t enough to cause major alarm, but it’s still worth taking precautions around the South Platte near Commerce City…

“There’s a good possibility the material could be from us. We don’t know for sure. But we’re not gonna mess around with that. We’re going to take responsibility. The environment needs to be protected,” John Gallagher with Suncor said.

More water pollution coverage here.

Denver Water is closing a section of the Sand Creek Regional Greenway, along Havana Street from Florence Way to the Smith Road trailhead, August 22 to September 3, for work on their non-potable recycled water supply system

Here’s the release from Denver Water (Stacy Chesney):

A small section of the Sand Creek Regional Greenway along Havana Street from Florence Way to the Smith Road trailhead in Denver will be temporarily closed from Aug. 22 to Sept. 3. A Denver Water contractor will be installing a recycled water line that will serve irrigation water to Stapleton and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The Sand Creek Regional Greenway is a nearly 14-mile stretch of public land connecting the High Line Canal in Aurora with the South Platte River Greenway in Commerce City.

In addition to serving recycled water to the Stapleton area, the installation of this recycled water line is the final step in completing the Arsenal’s wildlife restoration program. Denver Water’s recycled water program is a part of the utility’s future water supply planning, which rests on three strategies: conservation, recycled water and new supply.

More Denver Water coverage here.

South Platte River basin: Sand Creek Volunteer Work Day September 3

From the Sand Creek Regional Greenway via the Commerce City Sentinel:

The eighth annual REI/Sand Creek Greenway Volunteer Work Day will be from 8 a.m. to noon, Sept. 3, at the Smith Road Trailhead west of Havana Street.

It’s a joint project between the greenway partnership, Denver Parks and Recreation, Aurora Parks Recreation and Open Space and Commerce City Parks and Recreation.

Crew leaders will work with groups of volunteers to maintain the greenway’s urban wilderness. The native prairie habitat is home to many species of animals and it is enjoyed by many including hikers, runners, cyclists, and horseback riders.

Volunteers meet in the parking lot on Smith Road, west of Havana Street in Denver. Wear long pants, sturdy footwear and work gloves, if available. The groups work in Denver, in Sand Creek Park in Aurora and around the Wetlands Park in Commerce City.

Opportunities are available for adults and children 8 and older. Pets are not permitted. Participants will receive an REI tech T-shirt, morning snacks, lunch and beverages.

Preregister online at either http://www.volunteeroutdoors.net or http://www.sandcreekgreenway.org. Contact the Sand Creek Regional Greenway at 303-468-3262 or via email at bschubert@sandcreeekgreenway.org.

More South Platte River basin coverage here.

El Paso County Communities stormwater funding falls short

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

At a kickoff event for a stormwater task force on Tuesday, they stressed the need to educate residents about the impact of stormwater on people’s daily lives…

In unincorporated areas of the county that have been built up, such as Security and Widefield, there are no underground storm sewers.

While Colorado Springs has nearly $500 million in unfunded stormwater needs, there are an estimated $100 million more in other areas of El Paso County along Fountain Creek. In addition, a potential $150 million in projects are contemplated by the Fountain Creek Watershed District.

Pueblo has $85 million in identified long-term projects that are being funded through its stormwater enterprise.

More coverage from Daniel Chacón writing for The Colorado Springs Gazette:

“For decades, there have been discussions about stormwater in this area,” El Paso County Commission Chairwoman Amy Lathen said during the so-called Sand Creek Summit, where officials met under a tent next to the creek near Airport Road…

Officials chose Sand Creek for the summit to show erosion problems there that include, among other things, exposed Utilities lines. Various agencies are pooling resources to address the problems there.

A regional stormwater task force that met for the first time last week plans to compile a list by the end of the year of the infrastructure capital improvement needs in the region and how much money each government entity can contribute to address the problem, said City Councilwoman Brandy Williams. The task force’s next meeting is in September.

More stormwater coverage here and here.

Cotter Mill history: The mill first processed uranium for the U.S. nuclear weapons program

Here’s the first part of a new series, a look back at the history of the Cotter Mill near Cañon City now that the mill is being decommissioned, from Rachel Alexander writing for the Cañon City Daily Record. From the article:

Construction on the Cotter uranium mill south of Cañon City began in April 1958. By the end of that year, the mill had processed 7,700 tons of uranium ore. Now the company is moving into the process of terminating its radioactive materials license and getting off of the National Priority List.

“There were a lot of thorium deposits in this area,” said Cotter’s Vice President of Milling John Hamrick of the choice of the location. At the time, in the early days of the nuclear industry, it was unclear whether the standard fuel would be uranium or thorium based.

Early on, the mill processed uranium ore into yellowcake — U3O8 — for the federal government. “The mills in that era were operated by the Atomic Energy Commission for weapons,” Cain said…

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was discovered that ground water supplies in the Lincoln Park neighborhood had been contaminated by the operations at the mill. The water was discovered to be contaminated with uranium and molybdenum from the mill along Sand Creek and affecting the private wells in the area. Overexposure to either element could cause heavy metal poisoning. The site and the Lincoln Park neighborhood was added to the National Priorities — or Superfund — List in 1984.

More nuclear coverage here.

The Department of Interior has released the final 50-State America’s Great Outdoors Report

We humans love being in and around water and this report underscores that association with the majority of projects dealing with waterways and wetlands. Here’s the link to the report. Here’s the release:

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released a final 50-State America’s Great Outdoors Report outlining more than 100 of the country’s most promising projects designed to protect special places and increase access to outdoor spaces. The full report – which contains two projects per state – comes as part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) initiative to establish a community-based, 21st century agenda for conservation, recreation, and reconnecting Americans to the outdoors.

“We have listened to the American people and their elected representatives about the most important things we can do to conserve our land and water and reconnect people, especially young people, to the outdoors,” Salazar said. “These projects represent what states believe are among the best investments in the nation to support a healthy, active population, conserve wildlife and working lands, and create travel, tourism and outdoor-recreation jobs across the nation.”

The full list released today includes:

24 projects to restore and provide recreational access to rivers and other waterways – such as establishing the Connecticut River as a National Blueway and expanding recreational opportunities at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers in the Twin Cities;

23 projects to construct new trails or improve recreational sites – such as completing gaps in the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin and expanding the multi-use Shingle Creek Trail in Florida;

20 projects that will create and enhance urban parks – such as rehabilitating wetlands habitat and building new outdoor recreational opportunities on Chicago’s South Side and increasing river access at Roberto Clemente State Park and restoring the Harlem River in the Bronx; and

13 projects that will restore and conserve America’s most significant landscapes – such as conserving Montana’s Crown of the Continent, establishing the Flint Hills of Kansas as a new easement-based conservation area, and conserving the native grasslands of North and South Dakota.

The list also includes 11 initiatives requested by states to establish new national wildlife refuges, national park units and other federal designations; five projects that will assist states and communities to protect key open space; and five initiatives to educate young people and connect them to nature.

The report is a result of 50 meetings with governors and stakeholders held by Salazar and other senior Interior officials to solicit ideas on how to best implement AGO in their states. These projects were identified for their potential to conserve important lands and build recreation opportunities and economic growth for the surrounding communities. Key stakeholders that were engaged in the conversation included private landowners, local- and tribal-elected officials, community organizations and outdoor-recreation and conservation groups.

Interior Department agencies will work with states and communities to advance the projects with existing resources through technical support and with their administrative authorities, and coordinate among each of its key bureaus – including the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – and, where possible, other federal agencies, to direct available resources and personnel to make tangible progress on these projects. They will also partner with states and communities to leverage grants, private funding and other resources.

In the next month, the Secretary will identify a Department official to lead each project. Those individuals will be held accountable for the development of an action plan, in collaboration with local stakeholders; and the advancement of that plan during the next year.

When President Obama launched the AGO last year, he assigned the Secretaries of the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to lead the initiative.

Based on the extensive listening sessions, the federal agencies submitted to the President “America’s Great Outdoors: A Promise to Future Generations,” a report which defines an action plan for conservation and recreation in the 21st century.

Among the goals set forth in the report were better focusing the conservation and recreation efforts of the federal government by creating and enhancing urban parks and green spaces, renewing and restoring rivers, and conserving large, rural landscapes.

“The America’s Great Outdoors Initiative turns the conventional wisdom about the federal government’s role in conservation on its head,” Salazar said. “Rather than dictate policies or conservation strategies from Washington, it supports grassroots, locally driven initiatives.”

To view the full report, see below or click here.

To download a PDF of the report, click here.

To view a map of the projects announced, click here.

For more information on the President’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, click here.

Here’s the description of the Rocky Mountain Greenway project in Colorado from the report:

As a result of decades of private, local, state, and federal investment, significant areas of open land are now protected and available for public use in and around the Denver metropolitan area. This investment includes establishment of 40,000 acres of parks and open space, creation of over 140 miles of trails, and completion of water quality and recreation improvements within the Denver metro greenway system. There has been significant federal, state, and local investment in the cleanup and restoration of the Rocky Flats and Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuges, as well as private and public investment in the creation of Confluence and Commons parks in the Central Platte Valley in Denver. An investment of $100 million in these environmental and recreational improvements has created an estimated $10 billion of related economic benefits.

To maximize the benefit of these disparate assets, federal, state, and local partners want to create links to creeks, river corridors, and local, state, and federal parks and open space areas. The state and DOI are joining forces to create a “Rocky Mountain Greenway”—a system of uninterrupted trails linking the three national wildlife refuges in the metro region (Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, Two Ponds NWR, and Rocky Flats NWR) and other trail systems in the Denver Metro Region. The NPS also will explore creating connections from Rocky Mountain National Park to the Denver metro area.

Potential Action: Provide technical and financial support to connect the three national wildlife refuges in the metro region. Provide financial assistance for water quality and riparian habitat improvements and for work to extend trails and open space along the South Platte River and Sand Creek Greenway.

Partners: FWS, NPS, State of Colorado, local governments, and nonprofit and private sector partners.

Here’s the description of the Yampa River Basin project from the report:

The Yampa River Basin in northwestern Colorado is one of the most hydrologically and biologically intact watersheds in the West. As the largest naturally flowing river in Colorado, the Yampa hosts high-quality recreational experiences for boaters and fisherman. It provides roosting and nesting habitat for the sandhill crane, blue heron, and bald eagle. The river is also vital winter habitat for Colorado’s second largest elk herd, and large deer herds, making the area a world-class hunting destination.

Good stewardship and conservation of these lands and waters—both public and private—is critical to ensuring strong local economies built around ranching, wildlife, and recreation that contribute greatly to the economic and ecological health of the state of Colorado and the Colorado River basin as a whole. Two recent successes in the area include 61,485 acres of private land on 131 different properties that have been placed under conservation easement and extensive public and private investment in the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. The creation of the Yampa River State Park, the reconstruction of important buildings at Dinosaur National Monument, and recreation improvements at Elkhead Reservoir are the first of many steps that will help spur tourism, recreation, jobs, and greater public use, all goals of AGO. The stronger and better coordination among governments at all levels and local communities afforded by AGO will help leverage current resources to increase the pace and scale of future accomplishments, including voluntary conservation of working agriculture lands, invest- ment in forest management and wildlife corridors, and support for a diverse and sustainable outdoor recreation economy.

Potential action: Support the acquisition of conservation easements from willing sellers. Increase efforts to control invasive vegetation that seriously threatens important river val- ues, and work at the headwaters of the river to conserve and promote important fisheries.

Partners: BLM, FWS, NPS, State of Colorado, county and local governments, land conservation groups, veterans organizations, and youth corps.

More coverage from Wendy Koch writing for USA Today. From the article:

To reconnect Americans to nature, the Obama administration is promoting 100 projects nationwide — two in each states — such as new urban parks, wildlife refuges and walking trails as well as completing gaps in Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail and restoring the Bronx’ Harlem River.

The projects are part of President Obama’s Great Outdoors Initiative, announced last year, and result from 50 meetings between state leaders and senior federal officials. They won’t receive new federal funding but technical support and guidance.

Lamar pipeline: The CEO for GP Water Group estimates the pipeline will cost $340 million

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

Developers who want to build a 150-mile pipeline from Lamar to growing communities in El Paso and Elbert counties estimate it would cost about $340 million to construct. “We believe we can build it cheaper than government engineers would estimate,” said Karl Nyquist, CEO for the GP Water Group. “We’ve done a fair amount of this type of work, and there are a few similar projects we’ve watched.”

GP Water proposes to build a 24-inch diameter pipeline to deliver water from rights it owns on the Lamar Canal. Customers would include the Cherokee Water and Sanitation District near Colorado Springs, and potentially other users in Elbert or El Paso counties. It would deliver up to 12,000 acre-feet annually. The primary purpose of the project is to provide renewable water to growing communities that are now mining the Denver Basin aquifers as more wells are drilled…

GP’s engineering team estimates it would cost between $330 million and $340 million to build the proposed pipeline. The cost includes the water, pump stations, a treatment plant at Lamar and the pipeline…

There would also be costs associated with treatment and transmission. Water would have to be treated for high salinity and pumped at least 2,400 feet uphill…

In most court decrees for water transfers, only the consumptive use of water may be moved. The Lamar Canal water rights have already been changed to allow multiple uses, but GP would need a new decree to use the water in a new location. GP plans to be able to move the water within five years.

Here’s the schedule of GP Water Group’s planned public meetings:

Thursday: Elbert County issues, the old gym at Simla High School, 619 Pueblo Ave., Simla.

Aug. 16 and 23: Prowers County issues, Lamar Community Building, 610 S. Sixth St., Lamar.

Aug. 17: Elbert County issues, Legacy Academy Charter School, 1975 Legacy Circle, Elizabeth.

Aug. 22: El Paso County issues, Sand Creek High School, 7005 N. Carefree Circle, Colorado Springs.

More Lamar pipeline coverage here.