Chaffee County continues hearing 1041 regulations for geothermal exploration and production efforts

From The Mountain Mail (James Redmond):

Area residents expressed concerns during a public hearing Tuesday about the amount of regulation Chaffee County’s proposed geothermal 1041 regulations would impose.

The draft 1041 regulations would create a special permit-driven process that gives the county some power to regulate use of geothermal resources for commercial production of electricity, Dennis Giese, Chaffee County commissioner, said. Some residents feared that too little regulation in parts of the draft would leave the county open to adverse situations. The county should protect itself, Melanie Roth, Buena Vista, said.

One section of the draft regulations requires the applicant to submit “documentation of the applicant’s financial and technical capability to develop and operate the proposed project, including a description of the applicant’s experience developing and operating similar projects.”

The commissioners discussed removing or changing the language. “Why is that our business?” Giese asked.

The consultant the county hired to draft the regulations, Barbra Green, partner at Sullivan Green Seavy LLC, said a company may come in and start geothermal electricity production that it cannot finish. If the business then just leaves the county or goes bankrupt, the county could end up having to clean up the project and restore the land.

“I would rather have a pool (of money) or bond to reclaim the land,” Commissioner Frank Holman said.

Whether the county addresses the issue by requiring the applicant to prove feasibility or with a bond, the commissioners should work up front to protect the county, Roth said.

Commissioners also discussed how the draft language could regulate geothermal exploration drilling. At a May 7 work session commissioners gave direction to explore language that would require, subject to some regulations, an activity notice from the county for exploration drilling, Green said. The state engineer’s office applies regulations to the drilling of exploration holes.
Cheryl Brown-Kovacic, representing the League of Women Voters of Chaffee County, said the county should have regulations for all phases of geothermal development, including exploration.

“I have some concerns with no permitting required for exploration,” Syd Schieren, Salida, said.

The regulations should have clear language defining and separating exploration and exploration drilling from production drilling, Green said.

However, during the public comment period, some speakers expressed concerns that the draft overregulated.

“After having read (the) draft regulations, we don’t need them,” John “Hank” Held, principal of Mt. Princeton Geothermal LLC, said. The regulations proposed in the draft duplicate state and federal regulations and “are overly restrictive,” he said.
Held said he thinks he has already missed the drilling season for this year, so the commissioners should take their time to make sure they get the regulations right.

The commissioners made a motion to hold the next public hearing on the draft geothermal 1041 regulations during their July 2 meeting. Commissioner Dave Potts said he would like to have the Chaffee County Planning Commission review the draft before the next hearing. Green said she should have the next version of the draft finished by June 21.

More geothermal coverage here and here.

Parachute Creek spill: No benzene detected in creek on Tuesday and Wednesday #ColoradoRiver

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

Tests showed no benzene in Parachute Creek Tuesday and Wednesday, in another sign that remediation efforts related to a natural gas liquids leak there are proving effective. Aeration treatment of the creek and groundwater “has done a good job,” Parachute town administrator Robert Knight said Thursday.

Williams estimates that about 10,000 gallons of natural gas liquids leaked this winter into soil and groundwater from a pipeline leaving its gas processing plant up the creek valley. It has been using air sparging and related methods to remove carcinogenic benzene in groundwater and the creek at a point 1,300 feet downstream where the benzene has been moving from the groundwater into the surface water.

Benzene in surface water once barely topped the state drinking water standard of 5 parts per billion (although the standard doesn’t apply to the creek), and for a time showed up at lower levels at a few points downstream. However, Williams noted in a recent update at its http://www.answersforparachute.com website that those benzene levels have steadily declined since May 2, although trace levels at the one measurement site had continued to linger. “Surface water samples from Parachute Creek indicate that Williams continues to make progress in its remediation efforts to remove benzene from a defined area of Parachute Creek, as well as from groundwater,” the company said in that update.

No benzene has ever been detected where Parachute diverts water for its town irrigation system farther downstream. Knight said diversions into that system began about two weeks ago. He said that with the success in efforts to clean up the creek, he’s not hearing any concerns from residents about the irrigation water.

Of greater concern to him is the low level of the creek due to the lack of snowpack, he said. The leak situation has raised questions about how benzene conditions might change when spring runoff occurs, but Knight said he flew over the creek watershed and the snowpack that feeds it already was gone. “We’re down to August levels. We haven’t even seen the creek rise,” he said.

As of last Friday, Williams had estimated that it had recovered about 6,766 gallons of the leaked natural gas liquids. It is projecting that a water treatment system it will use to remove and clean groundwater before returning it to the aquifer will be in service by June.

From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson):

Two ranchers who live and work downstream from a natural gas liquids spill near Parachute Creek said on Wednesday that they remain concerned, but not alarmed, about the cleanliness of the water that flows past their ranches. The ranch owners, Sidney Lindauer and Howard Orona, live along Parachute Creek about three miles north of the Town of Parachute, on opposite sides of the creek. Both have previously voiced concerns about the cleanup of a large spill of natural-gas liquids about one mile upstream from their properties. The two have said they worried about the potential contamination of their domestic and irrigation water supplies from the spill, which according to state and industry officials has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of potentially toxic chemicals into the soils and groundwater near a natural gas processing plant owned by the Williams Midstream company…

Lindauer runs horses on a ranch that has been in his family for decades.

“I’d like to say they’ve cleaned it up,” said Lindauer on Wednesday, referring to the combined efforts of Williams Midstream and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

But he said he is skeptical about the wisdom of leaving the cleanup in the hands of the company that owns the facilities from which the liquids leaked. “We need an independent agency that isn’t associated with the industry, or any industry, to monitor that creek,” he said on Wednesday, lamenting that “they [the CDPHE] pretty much leave it up to Williams.”

He said he has seen unexplained layers of dingy, brownish foam on the creek’s surface in recent weeks, something he has occasionally seen in the past but in masses that were less dense than those he has spotted recently.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

The Arkansas Valley Conduit scores and extra $4 million from Reclamation funds

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The Arkansas Valley Conduit will receive an additional $4 million in federal funds this year thanks to reallocation of unused or leftover funds within the Bureau of Reclamation. “It will allow us to start working on engineering and the drafting of a design,” said Jim Broderick, executive director of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, sponsors of the project.

Broderick learned of $3.79 million in additional funds being steered to the conduit during a visit with Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. The money comes at a time when the district anticipated getting far less than it needed to keep the project moving. Last month, the district’s board received the grim news that under sequestration, only $1 million would be included in the 2014 budget. The district had sought $14 million.

More Arkansas Valley Conduit coverage here and here.

USGS: Deficit in Nation’s Aquifers Accelerating

Here’s the release from the USGS (Jon Campbell/Leonard Konikow):

A new U.S. Geological Survey study documents that the Nation’s aquifers are being drawn down at an accelerating rate.

Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008) comprehensively evaluates long-term cumulative depletion volumes in 40 separate aquifers (distinct underground water storage areas) in the United States, bringing together reliable information from previous references and from new analyses.

“Groundwater is one of the Nation’s most important natural resources. It provides drinking water in both rural and urban communities. It supports irrigation and industry, sustains the flow of streams and rivers, and maintains ecosystems,” said Suzette Kimball, acting USGS Director. “Because groundwater systems typically respond slowly to human actions, a long-term perspective is vital to manage this valuable resource in sustainable ways.”

To outline the scale of groundwater depletion across the country, here are two startling facts drawn from the study’s wealth of statistics. First, from 1900 to 2008, the Nation’s aquifers, the natural stocks of water found under the land, decreased (were depleted) by more than twice the volume of water found in Lake Erie. Second, groundwater depletion in the U.S. in the years 2000-2008 can explain more than 2 percent of the observed global sea-level rise during that period.

Since 1950, the use of groundwater resources for agricultural, industrial, and municipal purposes has greatly expanded in the United States. When groundwater is withdrawn from subsurface storage faster than it is recharged by precipitation or other water sources, the result is groundwater depletion. The depletion of groundwater has many negative consequences, including land subsidence, reduced well yields, and diminished spring and stream flows.

While the rate of groundwater depletion across the country has increased markedly since about 1950, the maximum rates have occurred during the most recent period of the study (2000–2008), when the depletion rate averaged almost 25 cubic kilometers per year. For comparison, 9.2 cubic kilometers per year is the historical average calculated over the 1900–2008 timespan of the study.

One of the best known and most investigated aquifers in the U.S. is the High Plains (or Ogallala) aquifer. It underlies more than 170,000 square miles of the Nation’s midsection and represents the principal source of water for irrigation and drinking in this major agricultural area. Substantial pumping of the High Plains aquifer for irrigation since the 1940s has resulted in large water-table declines that exceed 160 feet in places.

The study shows that, since 2000, depletion of the High Plains aquifer appears to be continuing at a high rate. The depletion during the last 8 years of record (2001–2008, inclusive) is about 32 percent of the cumulative depletion in this aquifer during the entire 20th century. The annual rate of depletion during this recent period averaged about 10.2 cubic kilometers, roughly 2 percent of the volume of water in Lake Erie.

More USGS coverage here.

‘A stunning landscape is saved after a decade-long war over its water’ — Nature Conservancy Magazine

Here’s an in-depth look at how water served as the catalyst to unite San Luis Valley residents in opposition to plans to ship water to the Denver Metro area back in the 1980s and 1990s, from Nature Conservancy Magazine (Frederick Reimers). Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

In the early light of a spring morning in 1989 a fellow barged into the Crestone, Colorado, bakery where Christine Canaly worked, hungry for breakfast. The man, it turned out, was vice president of a company that planned to spend $150 million to drill 100 wells and pipe water from the rural San Luis Valley to the Denver suburbs, more than 100 miles away. Those suburbs, he said, would pay top dollar for the water, and the project would be a financial bonanza for everyone in the San Luis Valley…

…[Rancher Greg Gosar] had been chewing over a conversation that he’d had a year earlier. The principal owner of the sprawling, 97,000-acre Baca Ranch, a Canadian oilman named Maurice Strong, had been applying for extensive water rights in the valley. Gosar had asked Strong what he planned to do with the water. “Maurice told me, ‘We’re going to put in some potatoes, and we’re gonna plant quinoa,’” he recalls.

But Gosar didn’t quite believe it. And now, talking with [Christine Canaly], all the pieces began to fit together. Strong was the head of the same company that Canaly’s hungry visitor worked for. And if the massive water-export plan went through, there was a very good chance that the project would suck the valley’s farms and streams dry. Gosar was angry.

“Let’s go get these guys,” he told Canaly.

That was all she needed to hear. Within a few weeks, she and Gosar had formed a group called Citizens for San Luis Valley Water. Then, by happenstance, she met David Robbins, an attorney for the district that supplies water to local farmers.

“He’s this imposing, brilliant guy with a huge handlebar mustache,” says Canaly. “He told me they were already planning a lawsuit to stop the project. I asked him how he felt about citizens’ groups. He looked at me and said, ‘I love citizens’ groups.’”

More Rio Grande River Basin coverage here.

The COGCC fines Antero $150,000 for produced-water pipeline leak near Rifle

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved a $150,000 fine Monday against Antero Resources in connection with a leak from a produced-water pipeline that resulted in oily contamination of groundwater and soil near Rifle. The fine was part of a consent agreement reached with Antero. The commission says Antero violated rules on pollution and management of waste in the incident, discovered in July 2010.

The leak from a faulty weld in a plastic pipe resulted in seeps of a paraffin-like substance in a nearby gravel pit owned by Grant Brothers Construction, and caused high levels of benzene, a carcinogen, in the groundwater. The oil-laden water came from 36 wells on five well pads in the Colorado River floodplain, the commission said.

Before the commission acted Monday, Commissioner Richard Alward of Grand Junction expressed concern about how much time has lapsed since the leak’s discovery. “It’s now 2013, and we’re now finally resolving things,” he said.

Commission staff said the delay was because Antero tried several approaches to cleaning it up, finally settling on full excavation, which was completed last September. The state then allowed for another half-year of environmental monitoring.

Denver-based Antero no longer operates in Colorado, having sold its assets in the Piceance Basin to Ursa Resources in order to focus on drilling in the eastern U.S.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

2013 Colorado legislation: HB13-1316 (Oil Gas Commn Uniform Groundwater Sample Rule) passes state House #COleg

From the Denver Business Journal (Cathy Proctor):

HB 1316, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Dickie Lee Hullinghorst of Gunbarrel and Joe Salazar of Thornton, would require the state to undertake the same stringency of groundwater testing in the oil-rich Wattenberg basin as it does across most of the state…

HB 1316 passed the House on its third and final reading in that chamber Wednesday morning and now goes to the Senate for consideration…

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) in January changed its rules to require companies to conduct one groundwater test per quarter-section, the equivalent to four tests per square mile, in the Wattenberg area. Due to the number of wells drilled and planned in that area, the new standard will result in a database of 11,000 samples, according to the state. HB 1316 proposes to change the new rule and require companies working the Wattenberg to sample up to four groundwater sources within a half mile of the new well…

The Colorado Oil & Gas Association, an industry trade group, opposes the bill because it undermines the influence of the state regulatory agency charged with overseeing the oil and gas industry, spokesman Doug Flanders said. “A statewide ‘one size fits all’ water sampling rule does not fit Colorado, is unnecessary and fails to account for unique characteristics of specific areas of the state,” he said.

More coverage from Steve Lynn writing for the Northern Colorado Business Report. Here’s an excerpt:

House Bill 1316, sponsored by House Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, and Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, would require the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to adopt uniform groundwater sampling rules. It passed by a narrow 34-29 vote. Northern Colorado was partially exempted from the new rules in January, when they were adopted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Coincindentally, the new rules also took effect Wednesday. The new rules require companies to sample as many as four water wells within one-half mile of a new oil and gas well before drilling. Two more samples of each well must be taken between six and 12 months and again between five and six years…

Neither oil industry representatives or environmental groups embraced the new monitoring rules. Stan Dempsey, president of the Colorado Petroleum Association, criticized HB-1316, saying that it disregards scientific data presented during the creation of groundwater testing rules and derails efforts to address the needs of local communities.

“There were parts of the COGCC’s water sampling rule we would have preferred to see enacted differently,” Dempsey said in a statement. “But we believe that the role of the executive branch should be respected and that the outcomes of extensive rule making ought to be much more carefully evaluated before being overturned.”

Environmentalists have criticized the exemption in the Northern Colorado oil field, calling it the “Anadarko-Noble loophole” after two major producers in the region, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Noble Energy Inc.

More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Parachute Creek spill: ‘We are trying to protect to drinking water standards’ — David Walker #ColoradoRiver

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

A state official says regulators are seeking to protect Parachute Creek according to drinking water standards even though they technically don’t apply. The comment by David Walker, with the Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, came after a resident living near the creek downstream of a natural gas liquids leak questioned the standard applying to the creek.

A leak from a pressure gauge on a pipeline leaving Williams’ gas processing plant has resulting in carcinogenic benzene contaminating groundwater and the creek. While some groundwater benzene levels are high, measurements in the creek only once have exceeded the state drinking water standard of 5 parts per billion, reaching 5.3 ppb Wednesday.

While CDPHE regulators have accused Williams of breaking state rules with the groundwater contamination, it technically hasn’t violated any surface water standard because water isn’t pulled directly from the creek for drinking, Walker said. Instead, the state’s Water Quality Control Division’s maximum allowable benzene level in the creek is 5,300 ppb, to protect aquatic life.

Howard Orona has a domestic well about 20 feet from the creek and said it’s probably only 25 feet deep. A citizen representative on the Garfield County Energy Advisory Board, he expressed concern at the board’s meeting Thursday that benzene in surface water could migrate into his shallow well water. “For that creek to be pushing into the groundwater in my case, I would think that would be considered drinking water,” he said.

Walker said that despite the 5,300-ppb standard on the creek, “we are trying to protect to drinking water standards because it’s the correct thing to do.”

Williams tested Orona’s water a few weeks ago and it was benzene-free. On Friday, the company agreed to test it again and continue doing so on a regular basis, something Walker said he would have required had the company not volunteered to do it.

He said he agrees it’s possible for contaminated creek water to reach a nearby domestic well, and testing Orona’s well is the right thing to do. At the same time, he noted that Orona’s well is more than a mile from where benzene is entering the creek, and at least four creek sample points in between aren’t showing any benzene. The contaminated groundwater also is far upstream from his well and shouldn’t reach it underground, Walker said.

The creek also is the source for the town of Parachute’s irrigation supply, but no benzene has been detected at the diversion point.

Benzene in the creek Thursday fell to 4.7 ppb at the area of highest creek contamination.

Williams plans to seek state approval for upgrades to a treatment system to more quickly and thoroughly remove benzene in groundwater before the water enters the creek. CDPHE spokesman Mark Salley warned Friday the change could temporarily boost benzene levels in the creek “as residual groundwater contamination between the treatment systems and the creek is mobilized.” But it’s expected the benzene would continue to dissipate as it moves downstream, as it has been doing, he said in a news release.

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

Benzene in Parachute Creek has exceeded the drinking water standard for the first time since the discovery of a Williams natural gas liquids leak near the creek earlier this year. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesman Mark Salley said in an email to reporters Thursday that a sample on Wednesday contained a reading of 5.3 parts per billion, which compares to the drinking water standard of 5 ppb. But he noted that the creek is not considered a drinking water source, although it’s subject to a 5,300-ppb maximum benzene standard to protect aquatic life. “None of the surface water sampling results demonstrate the water is a risk to public health,” Salley said.

However, the CDPHE on Wednesday notified Williams that its leak constitutes disposal of hazardous waste without a permit. The agency has authority over the cleanup and could pursue fines against Williams.

Wednesday’s benzene reading occurred at the same location where benzene-tainted groundwater is believed to be entering the creek, and where previous readings generally have been in the 3 to 4 ppb range. The contamination is originating from where natural gas liquids leaked from a pipeline leaving Williams’ gas processing plant in the creek valley. Readings of 1.6 and 1.3 ppb were recorded Wednesday at two testing sites downstream, but no benzene showed up Wednesday at four more-distant sites, including the point where the town of Parachute diverts water for its irrigation system. Benzene dissipates rapidly in creek water and crews also are aerating the creek to speed dissipation. “Remediation actions continue and will be modified if appropriate to respond to sampling that indicates a significant change in the characterization of the site,” Salley said.

From The Denver Post:

Benzene levels continue to fluctuate in Parachute Creek near a hydrocarbon spill from a Williams energy gas pipeline.

The state Department of Public Health and Environment reported Friday that a surface water collected from a sampling spot closest to the well on Thursday contained 4.7 parts per billion, down from 5.3 ppb the day before. The federal safety limit for drinking water is 5 ppb.

The limit for benzene in Parachute Creek is 5,300 ppb, set by Colorado’s Water Quality Control Commission at a level deemed protective of aquatic life because the creek isn’t designated as a drinking water supply.

Downstream from the spill, the benzene contamination dissipates quickly. In Thursday sampling, the cancer-causing chemical was not detected 1.5 miles downstream, near the headgates where Parachute diverts water to an irrigation reservoir. The gates have not been open since the spill was publicly revealed on March 16.

Williams is expected to submit plans for improving groundwater treatment near the spill. Trenches to capture contaminated groundwater have been dug and equipment is being used to aerate the creek and soil near the spill to dissipate benzene.

CDPHE spokesman Mark Salley said in a written statement that benzene levels may temporarily increase in the creek after the treatment system upgrades occur “as residual groundwater contamination between the treatment systems and the creek is mobilized.

“But as the data above show, the expectation is that benzene would continue to dissipate as it moves downstream,” he wrote. “Williams will be closely monitoring the situation once the system is turned on, to look for changes that might warrant adjusting its operation, to enhance benzene removal rates and minimize temporary impacts to the creek.”

More Parachute Creek Spill coverage here. More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Expanded groundwater testing for Wattenburg field puts Dems on a collision course with Governor Hickenlooper #COleg

From the Associated Press via The Denver Post:

Colorado Democrats are closer to an intraparty clash over oil and gas drilling after a House vote to forward a water-testing bill opposed by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The House gave preliminary approval Tuesday evening to a bill to require more water testing in the state’s most active oil and gas drilling field, the Greater Wattenburg Area in northern Colorado. The field currently has lighter water-testing requirements than other areas of the state. The rules are set by the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission.
Hickenlooper has informed legislators he opposes the bill. The governor believes current water testing guidelines are adequate.

More 2013 Colorado legislation coverage here.

Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill update: Cotter officials want to resume decommissioning the site

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):

Cotter Corp. Uranium Mill officials want to get back to work at the now-defunct mill site and have asked the state health department to allow it. The mill site and a portion of the neighboring Lincoln Park community have been an EPA Superfund site since 1988 due to uranium and molybdenum contamination in groundwater and soils. Mill Manager John Hamrick said most work at the mill has been paused by the state health department to allow for decommissioning planning. “In recent meetings with the state and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cotter has been directed not to conduct any activities that could be considered clean-up,” Hamrick wrote in a letter to the state Monday.

Hamrick said Cotter was able to remove ore from a storage pad at the mill and ship it to the White Mesa Mill in Blanding, Utah. Now he would like the staff to excavate the ore pad area to remove uranium contamination and place fill material over the dried-out primary impoundment to reduce radon emissions. “Short-term (radon) control measures currently in place are adequate. However, the long-term presence of these materials is not in keeping with standards,” Hamrick wrote.

Hamrick said he believes the pad clean-up falls under “any steps necessary to control contamination or provide worker and public health protection.” But he pointed out that Cotter is in the midst of “regulatory uncertainty” as work is paused.

More Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill superfund site coverage here and here.

San Luis Valley: State Engineer Approval of the 2013 Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No. 1

From email from the State Engineer’s office (Kathryn H. Radke):

On April 30, 2013, State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved the Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No.1.

This approval will be filed with the Division No. 3 Water Court later today.

All documents are located on DWR’s website at the following location:
http://water.state.co.us/DivisionsOffices/Div3RioGrandeRiverBasin/Pages/Subdistrict1ARP.aspx

Note: these documents can also be downloaded from the DWR’s FTP site:
ftp://dwrftp.state.co.us/dwr/Annual%20Replacement%20Plans/2013/Subdistrict%201

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved a water replacement plan Tuesday aimed at mitigating harm from groundwater pumping in the north-central San Luis Valley.

Wolfe’s approval made few changes to the proposal from Subdistrict No. 1, which is required to lay out what sources of water it will use to replace water lost by the pumping of nearly 3,400 wells in the subdistrict’s boundaries.

He did bar the use of 86.5 acre-feet of water from Ruby Reservoir southwest of Creede until a substitute water supply plan is submitted to and approved by his office.

But that still leaves the subdistrict with a pool of more than 7,500 acre feet of water it can release into the Rio Grande to mitigate the injury to surface water rights holders.

A state computer model estimated that pumping would cause 5,389 acre-feet in depletions that the subdistrict must replace.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.

Parker Water and Sanitation District board is evaluating joining with Aurora and Denver in the WISE project

From the Parker Chronicle (Chris Michlewicz):

The Parker Water and Sanitation District board of directors will hear a presentation later this month from new manager Ron Redd, who will recommend that the district enter into WISE, the Water, Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency project. Six members of the South Metro Water Supply Authority, including Pinery Water and Wastewater, the Cottonwood Water and Sanitation District and Stonegate Village Metropolitan District, committed to WISE by signing intergovernmental agreements in late March. The agreements will bring nearly 7,000 acre-feet of recycled water to the south metro area…

The Parker Water and Sanitation District board asked Redd to examine the possibility of buying 500, 1,000 or 1,500 acre-feet through the WISE project. He was expecting to receive the results of a cost analysis on April 5 to determine the possible financial impacts. Any rate hikes on customers would likely be implemented incrementally and equate to about 2.5 percent to 3 percent per year, Redd said, cautioning that those figures are preliminary. The cost of WISE water increases annually over an eight-year period.

It would be relatively easy, Redd said, to move the reclaimed WISE water from Aurora to Parker if the district can come to an agreement to use a pipeline along E-470 owned by East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District. If the board gives approval, the intergovernmental agreement would be signed by late May…

Rueter-Hess Reservoir, which contains 5,700 acre-feet of water and was built to store 70,000 acre-feet, will be paid off by the time the Parker Water and Sanitation District takes on more debt to build pipelines to transport the water that will be needed for the future.

Meanwhile, Centennial has inked an IGA with the WISE Partnership. Here’s a report from Ryan Boldrey writing for the Highlands Ranch Herald. Here’s an excerpt:

Centennial Water and Sanitation District was one of six members of the South Metro Water Supply Authority to sign an IGA this past week committing to more renewable water by way of the Water Infrastructure and Supply Efficiency Partnership. Through the agreement, Aurora Water and Denver Water will provide roughly 7,000 acre-feet of fully treated water annually to participating SMWSA members and deliver it in phases, starting in 2016. As part of the IGA, the participating South Metro WISE entities have agreed to fund new infrastructure that will move the water from Aurora’s Binney Water Purification Facility to its end locations. “A region-wide water solution makes more sense than having each water entity fending for themselves to source, treat and deliver renewable water to customers,” said Eric Hecox, executive director of SMWSA. “We’re excited about the progress we’re making through WISE towards transitioning the region from nonrenewable groundwater to renewable water.”

Hecox said that the agreement helps provide SMWSA with about a third of the necessary water that participating entities will need long-term. From here, work will continue on the Chatfield Reallocation Project as well as of other options and alternatives to bring more water to the region…

For Centennial Water specifically, it’s another step toward cementing a long-term supply and not relying as much on groundwater or leased water. “We’ve got many years of full supply, but some of that full supply comes from leases that are not long-term,” said Centennial Water and Sanitation District General Manager John Hendrick. “We want to add to our portfolio with long-term or near-permanent surface water sources…

Other SMWSA members committing to the project at this time are Cottonwood Water, Meridian Metropolitan District, Pinery Water, Rangeview Metropolitan District and Stonegate Village Metropolitan District. Hecox said he expects Dominion, Inverness, Castle Rock and Parker water districts to sign the IGA by the end of April. SMWSA members not expected to take part in the IGA include: Castle Pines Metro, Castle Pines North, East Cherry Creek Valley, and Arapahoe.

More WISE coverage here.

The proposed Piñon Ridge uranium mill will be the first new plant in US in 30 years

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Gary Harmon):

With a major regulatory hurdle out of its way — again — Energy Fuels Resources Corp. is now looking to the uranium market for the signal to move ahead with construction of a mill. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reissued the radioactive-materials license Thursday after officials culled though six days’ worth of testimony, much of it under oath, taken in Nucla late last year.

The license comes, however, as uranium prices have tumbled to lows not seen since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, acknowledged Curtis Moore, director of communications and legal affairs for Energy Fuels. The $150 million project will go forward “when market conditions and our production requirements warrant it,” Moore said. The company remains bullish on the long-term prospects of the mill, Moore said, noting that the same number of reactors, if not more, are being planned now as before Fukushima.

The decision sparked a rebuke from the Sheep Mountain Alliance, which filed suit originally to have the license revoked, contending among other things that the state agency failed to conduct appropriate public hearings and that the weight of evidence showed the mill as an environmental threat. “We are extremely disappointed that the state opted to ignore the scientific and technical evidence against the mill,” Director Hilary Cooper said in an email. “And further we are shocked that the state, through this decision, is strongly encouraging Energy Fuels to build a radioactive waste dump on the Dolores River.”

By green-lighting the mill at a time when uranium prices are low, state officials “are operating well outside the mission of public health and safety,” Cooper said.

The mill, which would be built near Naturita, “is not on the Dolores River,” Montrose County Commissioner David White said. “It’s seven miles from the river and sitting on thousands and thousands of feet of collapsed salt dome and rock” that no leak from the mill would be able to permeate and travel through to the river. Montrose County supported the mill and issued a conditional-use permit for the project. Residents of the Nucla-Naturita-Norwood area are “excited, to say the least,” said White, whose commissioner district includes the three communities. “They’ve needed a good shot of optimism for a long time.”

In the decision, the Health Department noted at one point that radiation, while dangerous, is “what sustains life on Earth and is probably responsible for the evolution of life on the planet.”

Despite boom-and-bust economic cycles, facilities such as uranium mills tend to hold some level of employment, the department noted. It concluded, “The failure of the project is a risk that is borne primarily by Energy Fuels Resources Corp. and the potential benefits of the project appear to outweigh the costs across all segments of the larger community.”

If built, the mill would be the first uranium mill to be constructed in the United States in three decades. The last mill, White Mesa in Blanding, Utah, is owned by Energy Fuels, which obtained it in a merger with Denison Mines Corp. last year.

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Gary Harmon):

Energy Fuels Inc. is fulfilling contracts for uranium at well above the current spot price, but it’s waiting with the rest of the industry to see that price nearly double before investing in new projects. “Right now, we’re trying to hunker down a little bit and watch our pennies,” Curtis Moore, director of communications and legal affairs for Energy Fuels, said Wednesday.

Energy Fuels is fulfilling contracts with utilities for about $56 a pound, well over the current spot price of $40.90 a pound, according to U3O8.com. “We’re pretty well shielded from spot prices” with the company’s contracts, Moore told the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce energy briefing.

While the company is pursuing construction of the Pinyon Ridge uranium mill near Naturita, the price of uranium will likely have to clear the $70-per-pound threshold before construction begins, Moore said. That’s also the marker for reopening the eight mines the company owns on the Colorado Plateau, he said. That could take some time. “We see spot prices in the high 40s by the end of the year,” Moore said.

Once demand for uranium heats up, Energy Fuels will need the Pinyon Ridge mill when the company’s White Mesa mill in Blanding, Utah, can no longer keep up with demand, he said.

A decision is due this week from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Energy Fuels’ application for a radioactive materials-handling permit for Pinyon Ridge. A Denver district judge had invalidated the permit and ordered the Department of Public Health and Environment to reconsider it after seeking public comment and a recommendation from an administrative law judge. Energy Fuels is anticipating additional legal opposition to the Pinyon Ridge mill, Moore said.

It will cost about $150 million to construct the mill, he said.

Energy Fuels, which now bills itself as “America’s leading producer of conventional uranium,” now supplies about 1 million pounds of uranium oxide per year to utilities, or about a quarter of the 4 million pounds of domestic uranium used in the nation. In all, the United States uses about 50 million pounds of uranium per year to generate 20 percent of its electricity.

More Piñon Ridge uranium mill coverage here and here.

Say hello to the new Groundwater.org from the Groundwater Foundation

Click here to visit the website from The Groundwater Foundation.

More groundwater coverage here and here.

2013 Colorado legislation: HB13-1316 (Oil Gas Commn Uniform Groundwater Sample Rule) passes out of committee #COleg

From the Summit County Citizens Voice (Bob Berwyn):

A new measure to protect Colorado water quality from fracking impacts narrowly passed a House committee on a 6-5 vote. HB 1316 requires state regulators to adopt uniform statewide groundwater sampling rules and ends an exemption for the largest oil and gas field in Colorado in the Greater Wattenberg area. The measure would require sampling of all groundwater sources (up to a maximum of four wells) within a half-mile of proposed oil and gas wells, as well as follow-up sampling after the wells are drilled.

Conservation groups who slammed Gov. Hickenlooper for creating the giant loophole for the Wattenberg Field said the committee vote is another step toward better protection of public health and the environment…

Currently 25 percent of all drilling activity and the most intense growth of development and applications for new drilling occurs in the Greater Wattenberg Area. Of the twenty eight spills that have been reported to the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission this month, fifteen occurred in that area. The current testing regime requires sampling of only one water source in each quarter section. More widespread sampling will help with early detection of spills and contamination, according to conservation advocates.

“In recent months, Adams County has seen increasing public concern about oil and gas development happening close to homes and neighborhoods. In our community, we see areas with very tight development across our entire county, yet the Greater Wattenberg Area is exempt from this rule,” said Adams County Commissioner Eva Henry. “Why should the wells be treated differently when it comes to monitoring groundwater just because they are on the wrong side of our county? We are relying on the state to create baseline monitoring, which is not possible with two different standards. all of Adams County deserves the same level of protection,” Henry said.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

The proposed Piñon Ridge uranium mill gets state license #ColoradoRiver

Here’s the release from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment:

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Radiation Program today announced Energy Fuels Resources Corp. has met all the regulatory requirements for a radioactive materials license for the Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill in western Montrose County, Colo. State law requires the department to approve applications when such requirements are met.

The license was required before Energy Fuels could construct its planned 500-tons-per day uranium/vanadium mill approximately 12 miles west of Naturita, Colo., in the Paradox Valley.

The mill will process uranium ore from mines in the region to produce uranium oxide, which requires additional processing outside Colorado to become fuel for nuclear reactors. The mill also will recover vanadium, a metal used in steel alloys and high-tech batteries.

The license imposes a number of conditions on Energy Fuels involving construction of the mill; the receipt, possession, use and transfer of radioactive materials; and procedures to minimize risks to property and public health and safety, and to prevent loss or theft of radioactive material. Notably, the license requires an enhanced groundwater monitoring plan, subject to annual review.

A separate settlement agreement between Telluride and San Miguel County with Energy Fuels sets up additional protections related to the transportation of radioactive materials, blowing dust and water quality monitoring. In addition to the approximately $13 million financial surety established by the state, this agreement increases Energy Fuels’ total surety to an amount not less than $15 million.

Dr. Chris Urbina, executive director and chief medical officer of the department, said, “With the approval of the license, our work is not done. We will continue to work with the community members and officials to keep them informed of progress.”

During construction and operation of the Piñon Ridge facility, the department’s oversight will continue, including regular inspections and an annual review of the financial assurance. The department expects to have at least one staff member whose primary assignment will include monitoring and inspections of the facility.

Ron Henderson, chairman of the Montrose Board of County Commissioners said, “An exhaustive process has been followed and validated with the approval of this license.”
Montrose Commissioner David White said, “This validates the science behind the application, design and potential construction of the mill. It is a state-of-the-art facility and will benefit the citizens of Montrose County, the state of Colorado and the United States for decades to come.”

The license application was submitted by Energy Fuels on Nov. 18, 2009, and has undergone a thorough technical and regulatory review. Prior to its approval of the license, the department and the applicant conducted eight public meetings in 2010 in Nucla, Naturita, Paradox, Montrose, Telluride and Ophir. And in November 2012, the department held a six-day hearing in Nucla to allow cross-examination of witnesses and to solicit additional public comment. All of the information was thoroughly reviewed by the state’s Radiation Program prior to the decision to grant the license.

The administrative record includes comprehensive reports and comments by engineers, scientists, environmental and business groups, government officials from western Colorado counties and towns, and regulators. Anyone interested can view the department’s Decision Analysis and Environmental Impact Analysis, which includes a copy of the license and the department’s responses to public comments.

Dr. Urbina said, “From the beginning, we have listened carefully to the public and worked with Energy Fuels to minimize risks to public health and the environment. Today’s engineering standards – and strict environmental regulations – far exceed those in place when the last such mill was constructed more than 25 years ago. We are confident these standards and regulations will ensure the safe construction and operation of the facility.”

From the Associated Press (Alexandra Tilsley) The Denver Post:

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued Toronto-based Energy Fuels a radioactive materials license, clearing the way for the creation of the Pinon Ridge Mill in western Colorado’s Montrose County…

That doesn’t mean construction is imminent. Energy Fuels spokesman Curtis Moore said the company is waiting for the price of uranium to rise. Currently, Moore said, uranium is priced at about $40 per pound, down from about $72 per pound before the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Plant in 2011. The spot price of uranium was more than $135 a pound when Energy Fuels announced plans for the mill in 2007…

Energy Fuels also plans to open or reopen a number of Colorado mines, Moore said. Those mines are all small—perhaps a few hundred acres in size—and are mostly in areas that have been mined previously. “These are historic mines, historic mining districts. These are not pristine wilderness districts,” Moore said…

Warren Smith, community involvement manager for the Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division of CDPHE, said importing radioactive waste is not allowed under the license. He notes that waste produced by the mill will be stored in underground cells designed to last at least 200 years. The license carries a number of other environmental safeguards, including requirements that Energy Fuels monitor groundwater for contamination and install fences and wires to keep wildlife away from areas that might have radiation…

Montrose County Commission David White said that most area residents seem assured that the plan is environmentally sound and are excited about the economic possibilities. Once constructed, the mill is expected to create at least 85 jobs, with up to 400 jobs generated by opening additional mines and increasing economic activity, according to Moore.

More Piñon Ridge uranium mill coverage here and here.

Parachute Creek spill: ‘The actual benzene standard on the creek is 5,300 ppb to protect aquatic life’ — Todd Hartman #ColoradoRiver

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

Weekend tests continue to show the presence of benzene in Parachute Creek downstream of a natural gas liquids leak, but at what the state Department of Natural Resources said are trace amounts. In fact, while the detections were somewhat below the standard of 5 parts per billion for drinking water, they are far under what’s allowable for the creek, agency spokesman Todd Hartman said in a press release. “Since Parachute Creek has not been designated as a drinking water supply by the state Water Quality Control Commission, the actual benzene standard on the creek is 5,300 ppb to protect aquatic life,” he said.

The creek does supply the irrigation system for the town of Parachute and its residents. However, there continue to be no benzene detections at the diversion point for that system, 2.7 miles downstream from where the leak is believed to have occurred.

Thousands of gallons of hydrocarbons leaked in a pipeline corridor near Williams’ gas processing plant up the creek valley. Williams says the source was a faulty pressure gauge on a natural gas liquids pipeline leaving the plant. High benzene levels have been found in groundwater since early in an investigation that started in March, but the first detection of benzene in the creek wasn’t until last Thursday.

On Saturday, benzene was detected 1,800 feet downstream from the pipeline corridor at 3.1 parts per billion, a level slightly higher than previous readings. That detection site is where groundwater is believed to be introducing benzene into the creek. No benzene was found at that location Sunday, and 3 ppb was detected Monday. Saturday and Sunday readings at monitoring points 2,500 and 3,700 feet from the pipeline area ranged from 1.5 to 1.1 ppb, with no results available for Monday.

Work continues on installation of an interceptor trench to strip benzene from groundwater above the creek contamination point, and to remove benzene at two locations in the creek. “Operators have drilled several additional monitoring wells to determine the extent of impacted groundwater. These new monitoring wells are not detecting benzene, an indication that delineation of the affected groundwater continues to improve,” Hartman said.

Also over the weekend, Bob Arrington, a retired engineer in Battlement Mesa and member of Garfield County’s Energy Advisory Board, wrote Gov. John Hickenlooper, urging him to have the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment rather than Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission lead the leak investigation. Arrington wrote that Williams has struggled with its own leak response, initially even doubting that the burst pressure gauge could leak that much fluid, and he argued that the commission doesn’t have the staff or training to oversee remediation.

From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson):

According to a report on Monday from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, benzene was detected during last weekend at the same three sites where it was first found on April 18. The water sampling and analysis is being conducted by personnel working for Williams Midstream, the company that owns a natural gas processing plant and some of the pipelines running underground in the area of the leak. The sampling sites, according to COGCC spokesman Todd Hartman, are at locations 1,800 feet, 2,500 feet and 3,700 feet, respectively, downstream from an above-ground valve set believed to be the source of leaking natural-gas liquids first discovered on March 8.

According to Hartman’s report on Monday, the concentration of benzene at the closest point to the valve set, 1,800 feet away, on Saturday was three parts benzene per billion parts water. In the subsequent two days, according to Hartman’s report, no benzene was detected at that location on Sunday, and 3 ppb was reported by Williams on Monday.

Analysis of samples taken at the more distant sites showed the concentration of benzene decreasing at each site and decreasing as samples were taken farther from the supposed source of the leak. At the 2,500-foot distance, according to results supplied to the COGCC by Williams, analysis detected 1.5 ppb on Saturday, and 1.4 ppb on Sunday. Results from Monday’s sampling were not available on Monday. At the site furthest from the leak, 3,700 feet downstream, samples tested out at 1.1 ppb on Saturday, and 1.2 ppb on Sunday. No results were available from Monday’s sampling…

Hartman’s report stated that Williams is working to build an “interceptor trench to strip benzene from the ground water prior to the point where it’s believed ground water enters the stream,” along with other efforts to clear the toxic chemical from the water.

From the Associated Press via KGWN.tv:

Aerators have been set up on Parachute Creek to flush out cancer-causing benzene that has been detected downstream from a hydrocarbon spill in western Colorado. Williams energy company crews also expanded their pumping of hydrocarbons from trenches dug along the creek.

“It is of great concern to see” benzene in #COriver trib #ParachuteCreek.Well, yeah, that seems reasonable… gjsentinel.com/news/articles/…

— Doug Pflugh (@dpflugh_ej) April 22, 2013

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

South Platte Basin: The lack of augmentation water sources will keep some farmland out of production this year

From The Greeley Tribune (Eric Brown):

Weld County is still home to potato festivals and dotted with spuds-growing artifacts, but the local tater industry has little to contribute anymore to the area’s vast legacy. A shell of what it once was, Weld’s potato acreage took another hit this year as the last large-scale grower of the crop — Strohauer Farms in LaSalle — plans to raise half of its potatoes outside of the state, citing water issues as the reason for doing so. The Potato Day Festival for about 25 years has been a staple of autumn activities in Greeley — a community where the potato is credited as being the first commercially viable crop locally grown. But since 1987, Weld County has gone from growing 3,855 acres of potatoes on 66 farms to what’s expected to be about 550 acres this year, grown by just two farmers.

Harry Strohauer — owner of Strohauer Farms, which grows nearly all of the remaining potatoes in Weld County — and others point the finger at water issues to explain why spuds production has decreased so sharply. Strohauer said he’d rather keep his crops growing near LaSalle — the only place his family has farmed since coming here in the 1940s — than in New Mexico, where he’ll plant 500 of his 1,000 total potato acres this year. The climate along the northern Front Range and his soil close to home are ideal for growing the crop, and Weld’s proximity to large markets (the Denver metro area) and the infrastructure (Interstate 25, U.S. 34 and U.S. 85) add to the local benefits. “But the truth is, with how we manage things in this state, we just don’t have a reliable source of water anymore,” said Strohauer, who’s an executive committee member for the National Potato Council and has spearheaded Strohauer Farms since he was 16 years old, following his father’s death.

As the region’s population has grown, so have the overall demands for water.

The tightening of water supplies and the uncertainty of the resource in dry years has become too much for some farmers, including potato growers, who stress that potatoes are an “unforgiving” crop if not fully irrigated — especially if you’re trying to meet the standards of King Soopers, Whole Foods and others, as Strohauer is.

But making life particularly difficult now, Strohauer says, is the inability to pump groundwater wells. In the mid-2000s, augmentation requirements were made more stringent in Colorado. Augmentation water is required to make up for depletions to the aquifer. Over time, pumping water out of the aquifer depletes surface flows in the basin needed by senior, surface water users.

Prior to the state’s rule changes in the mid-2000s, farmers were only augmenting for about 10 percent of the water they pumped out of the ground, according to some estimations. During the severe drought of 2002, surface flows were meager and some senior surface water users said well-pumpers were taking too much out of the aquifer and not putting enough back in. In the end, the state’s augmentation requirements were changed, and owners of certain groundwater wells — wells considered “tributary” to stream flows — now have to augment as much as 100 percent for the water they pump out of the ground. Strohauer said now, with those changes in place, it would cost tens of millions of dollars to own enough augmentation water and take other measures needed to get all of his wells pumping again at full capacity. Like Strohauer, many other area farmers haven’t been able to get their wells fully pumping again, or at all in some cases.

Strohauer said he isn’t exaggerating when he claims it’s easier to haul his farm equipment and fly to and from his new farmground in New Mexico than it is to grow potatoes near his Weld County home and deal with some of the water rules in Colorado. In New Mexico, Strohauer has no augmentation requirements. He can pump as much water out of the ground as needed without having to make up for his depletions. But he doesn’t at all believe that’s the best way to manage groundwater either, he added. “I’m not against augmentation, by any means,” stresses Strohauer, who, in addition to his groundwater wells, owns senior surface water rights. In many years, though, that surface water isn’t enough to fully irrigate his potato acres, and the groundwater wells are needed to provide immediate, supplemental relief in dry times. “I agree that we need to be augmenting more than we once were. But I think things have swung way too far the other way.”

Like others in the LaSalle and Gilcrest area, Strohauer has seen his basement flood from high groundwater levels in recent years. High groundwater has also flooded fields, causing some crops — including some of Strohauer’s potatoes — to rot. Strohauer and others believe the high groundwater levels have been caused by “overaugmenting” the aquifer since Colorado changed its rules in the mid-2000s, while others believe it stems from the wet years of 2010 and 2011, among other issues.

Complaints of high groundwater levels and the inability to pump wells led to a legislative push last year for a comprehensive study of groundwater activity in the South Platte River basin — a study that’s under way now by the Colorado Water Institute and is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

“Maybe this study will show us something new,” said John Stulp, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s adviser on water, noting that other efforts — including similar groundwater studies and water-cooperative pilot projects — are under way in Colorado. “There’s no doubt ag across the state faces water challenges. We live in a semi-arid region.

“We need to get to a point where we’re making the most beneficial use of what limited water we have, and we’re going a lot of different routes to get there.” Until that happens, Strohauer is considering planting more acres elsewhere, he said.

Water issues have affected other farmers in Weld County.

Sakata Farms in Brighton, which grows crops across southern Weld County, has reduced its acreage from 4,000 to 2,500 in the past four years, and brought commercial broccoli growing to an end in Colorado when it stopped production of that crop a couple years ago. Bob Sakata, owner of Sakata Farms, has said water uncertainty is the main reason for cutting back on production.

“You just hate to see this happen, but we have to grow somewhere,” said Strohauer, explaining that it’s taken him years to develop his contracts to sell potatoes to large grocers, and those contracts could come to an end if he falls short on production just one year. “We want to stay to here. I don’t want to see potato acres keep disappearing in Weld County. But it’s getting harder to stay here.”

More from the Tribune:

Jim Ehrlich, executive director of the Colorado Potato Administrative Council in Monte Vista, said shortages have had a major impact on growers in the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, where more than 90 percent of the state’s potatoes are grown. Since the Colorado drought of 2002, the southern part of the state has had little relief, and because of that, restrictions on groundwater-pumping have been put in place and potato acreage has decreased significantly.

In 2002, Colorado altogether was planting about 77,800 acres of potatoes, but is only expected to plant about 53,000 acres this year, largely due to tight water supplies in the San Luis Valley, Ehrlich said. The state’s potato production from 2002 to 2011 steadily dropped from about 3 billion pounds to 2.3 billion pounds — about a 25 percent decrease.

More South Platte River Basin coverage here and here.

Citizens Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill Citizen Advisory Group gets update on de-commissioning roadmap

From the Cañon City Daily Record (Rachel Alexander):

The road map integrates the paths of the various authorities that cover different parts of the site, said Jennifer Opila, radioactive materials unit leader with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The documents cover the requirements for 1988 Consent Decree/Remedial Action Plan (CD/RAP), Cotter’s operating license and the Comprehensive Environment Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund).

The document originally was published in July 2012, prior to the “pause” that is in effect at the site. CDPHE and the Environmental Protection Agency accepted public comments on the document at that time and released the current version at the end of March.

“This is the road map in its final stage at this time,” Opila said. “For now, we are not planning on taking formal comments on this version of the road map.”

However, she said the document is fluid and subject to change as the process moves forward, so the agencies will be accepting informal comments over time.

More Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill superfund site coverage here and here.

Benzene detected in Parachute Creek #ColoradoRiver

From KDVR.com:

For the second straight day, the cancer-causing chemical benzene has been detected in Parachute Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River, downstream from a hydrocarbon leak at a Williams Gas facility that was first detected more than a month ago.
Sampling of the creek on Friday detected benzene at 2.7 parts per billion, similar to Thursday’s detection of benzene at 2.8 parts per billion — the first time benzene, which has been found in much higher and hazardous concentrations in groundwater just feet from the creek, has been detected in surface water.

The state drinking water standard for benzene is 5 ppb. While the current samples are just trace amounts below that standard, the groundwater contamination levels were 3600 times the standard last month. “Sampling at three more points downstream of those detections did not detect benzene,” said Todd Hartman with the Colorado Dept. of Natural Resources, in an email to reporters Friday. “Sampling back upstream, above the initial benzene detection, also did not reveal contamination.”

Samples for benzene taken at the point where the town of Parachute diverts water for its irrigation supply 2.7 miles downstream of the gas facility continued to show no detection of benzene.

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

Benzene has been found in Parachute Creek for the first time since testing began in response to a natural gas liquids leak north of Parachute. Williams and the state Department of Natural Resources said in news releases that the carcinogen was found Thursday at multiple locations, but in amounts below Environmental Protection Agency safe drinking water standards of 5 parts per billion.

Williams said an initial result came back Thursday showing a detection of 2.8 parts per billion. The state said another detection at the same location was 2.7 ppb. Williams said the initial detection was about 1,200 feet downstream from where a pressure gauge on a natural gas liquids line leaked thousands of gallons. The state said the point was about 1,800 feet downstream. No benzene has been found upstream of the leak site.

In response to the detections, Williams did real-time sampling farther downstream Thursday and tests showed benzene at 1.5 ppb 680 feet from the first detection point, and 1.1 ppb 1,900 feet from the first point. Samples taken Thursday where Parachute diverts water for its irrigation supply showed no benzene. Williams said benzene floats on water, dissolves only slightly in it and evaporates quickly from the surface.

Williams is installing aeration, or air-sparging, technology to remove benzene near the initial detection point and 1,900 feet farther downstream. It also has added an additional boom below the initial detection point.

Parachute’s diversion site is 2.7 miles downstream of Williams’ gas plant.

High benzene levels have been found in groundwater on either side of the creek, but benzene hadn’t previously been detected in the creek despite frequent testing. Authorities have said that’s because the groundwater below the creek apparently flows away from it. But the state said the situation appears to be different at the initial point of benzene detection in the creek, with groundwater flowing toward the stream. That point is the farthest downgradient from the valve site where benzene has been detected in groundwater, and the groundwater detection there was 440 ppb Monday, prompting surface water sampling nearby the next day, the state said.

Part of Williams’ response is building a 200-foot-long groundwater interception trench adjacent to the creek at that point, , the state said.

Williams said that it is continuing twice-daily sampling at Parachute’s diversion point. “As a precautionary measure, the city of Parachute’s irrigation gate on Parachute Creek will remain closed until additional data is collected,” it said.

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

The discovery of benzene in Parachute Creek this week is causing heightened anxiety about the possible ramifications of the natural gas liquids leak in that watershed.

“It is of great concern to see it in the creek,” said Kirby Wynn, oil and gas liaison for Garfield County. He said the county is hoping to organize a public meeting in the Parachute area as early as next week and to have investigating agencies along with Williams, the company that has said it is responsible for the leak, provide updates and answer questions.

Williams and the state Department of Natural Resources on Thursday reported the first detection of benzene in the creek since monitoring began last month. The benzene levels were within the Environmental Protection Agency standard for safe drinking water. Groundwater monitoring wells on each side of the creek have shown much higher benzene levels.

Williams says the leak is the result of a faulty pressure gauge on a valve set for a liquids pipeline from its natural gas plant up the creek valley. It discovered the faulty gauge and removed it Jan. 3 but thought that less than 25 gallons had leaked. It now estimates that some 10,000 gallons entered the soil and groundwater, of which about 6,000 gallons has been recovered.

The town of Parachute’s diversion point for its irrigation supply is about 2.7 miles downstream of the valve area.

Judith Hayward, a former Parachute town trustee, previously has expressed concern about the safety of using the irrigation water for gardening once the watering season begins. She said Friday she also worries that some town residents may not be fully informed about the continuing developments involving the leak. “It seems like every other day or so there’s a new finding. I just have so many questions as to what a community can really do to protect themselves,” she said.

A benzene measurement Friday at the point where the substance was first detected in the creek earlier this week 1,800 feet downstream of the valve set was 2.7 parts per billion. That’s little changed from an earlier reading of 2.8 ppb. A sampling site 680 feet downstream of the point of initial detection showed benzene at 1.5 ppb Friday, and one farther downstream read 1.2 ppb. Sampling sites even farther downstream, including at the town diversion point, show no benzene.

Williams spokeswoman Donna Gray said the detections in the creek are “well below the regulatory standard, the allowable standard.” The EPA drinking water standard for benzene, a carcinogen, is 5 ppb.

Steve Gunderson, director of the state Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said in a prepared statement Friday, “Although the benzene levels in the creek are below state drinking water standards, their presence reinforces the need to assure that the cleanup of this spill is done as expeditiously as possible.”

CDPHE is meeting regularly with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and EPA “to discuss the cleanup and the appropriate measures to be taken,” he said.

Williams and regulators on Friday finalized plans that workers will begin implementing over the weekend to address benzene in the creek, including air-sparging systems that remove benzene through aeration.

Samples upstream of the valve area continue to show no sign of benzene that would indicate a possible source separate from the natural gas liquids leak.

Bob Arrington is a retired engineer in Battlement Mesa who pointed to the pressure gauge as the likely source of the large volume of contamination first found in March, even when Williams still thought the gauge had leaked only a small amount. He also predicted benzene ultimately would show up in the creek where it did, at a gradient pinch point where groundwater was more likely to flow into the creek rather than away from it. He said Friday that even benzene below EPA standards can cause some cancer cases. He thinks Williams should begin doing groundwater monitoring where the creek enters the Colorado River and work its way upstream, as a precautionary measure.

Gray said Williams already has tested groundwater downstream to the point where it is getting readings of no benzene in the groundwater.

Given the extent of the groundwater contamination that has been discovered, Arrington also challenges Williams’ contention that about 80 percent of what it calculates escaped from the gauge, or about 40,000 gallons, vaporized into the atmosphere rather than reaching the ground. He thinks a lot less may have vaporized because of the cold weather at the time of the leak. “I think when you have something like that you have to look at it from the worst possible case and do your planning accordingly,” he said.

Gray said the estimate of the percentage that vaporized and evaporated comes from a standard industry model created using EPA guidance.

Meanwhile, Hayward is concerned about Williams’ plans to build another natural gas liquids line that will go under the creek in the same corridor that holds the existing line that had the leaky gauge. “The fact that these pipelines are going under our creek … who let that happen?” she asked.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill superfund de-commissioning could take 10-15 years

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Tracy Harmon):

Members of a Community Advisory Group took their first look at a road map defining the course of action for decommissioning of the Cotter Corp. Uranium Mill Thursday. The now defunct mill and a portion of the neighboring Lincoln Park community have been a Superfund site since 1988 due to uranium and molybdenum contamination in groundwater and soils.

Jennifer Opila, a state health department radioactive materials unit leader, told the group that the road map will likely be updated and changed as the decommissioning goes forward. Basically it outlines what cleanup has been done and what plans are already in place. “We will need to update the plans to make sure they meet the needs as we go forward and the community will be involved,” Opila said. “Some information has been developed but in almost every case, we think more info needs to be gathered as we develop a remedial investigation.”

The very next step is uncertain, she said. “We are in new territory with a new team for both the state and the EPA so a lot of things we still are trying to figure out,” Opila said. “We might start with Operable Unit 1 (the Lincoln Park community) or what makes sense — maybe it is the mill site itself or all the units at the same time.” As the cleanup plan progresses, “We will start to compare potential different remedies to see if each meets all the nine criteria and is protective of human health and environment,” said Peggy Linn, EPA community involvement coordinator. “I hate to say it but we might look at the cost a little bit. We will discuss the findings all along the way with the group,” Linn said.

Once a proposed remedy or cleanup plan is selected, the public will again have a chance to comment. A remedial design will be followed by the remedial action plan during which, “We start actually building it,” Linn said. Even after the cleanup is complete, health authorities will continue five-year reviews to, “Check to see that everything is working,” Linn said. Decommissioning could take 10 to 15 years.

More Lincoln Park/Cotter Mill superfund site coverage here and here.

Arkansas Valley Conduit funding at risk

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):

The funding pipeline for the Arkansas Valley Conduit has sprung a leak. Federal funding pressures could reduce conduit funding to one-third of its current levels and far less than Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District officials had hoped for in next year’s budget. “The conduit is not the only project affected. There are projects under construction that got cut,” Southeastern lobbyist Christine Arbogast told the board Thursday. “Delays cost money, so it’s going to make it more difficult as we move forward.”

The district discussed a figure of $14 million to begin design and construction of the conduit in 2014. However, the budget President Barack Obama submitted to Congress last week included only $1 million for the conduit. The Bureau of Reclamation is on pace to complete an environmental impact statement for the conduit by the end of this year. But several other water projects already being built saw cuts of 75 percent or more in the president’s budget.

If Congress adopts another continuing resolution, rather than a budget, the conduit might retain its current level of funding, $3 million, in 2014, said Executive Director Jim Broderick. Otherwise, the district appears to be out of options to increase funding. “It’s clear the game is different than it used to be,” Broderick said, recounting last week’s visit to Washington, D.C. “This doesn’t stop the project, but it will move at a different pace.”

A federal law in 2009 provided a way to repay the federal government for conduit costs through storage contract payments to Reclamation for use of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project. But payments would not start until after the project is completed.

The conduit could cost up to $500 million to build and would deliver fresh drinking water from Pueblo Dam to 50,000 people in 40 communities along the Arkansas River. “We’re concerned about the drop in funding, but we’re still in the pre-construction phase,” Broderick said.

More Arkansas Valley Conduit coverage here and here.

Parachute Creek spill: The town of Parachute is watching the clean up and asking questions #ColoradoRiver

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

Besides being concerned about possible tainted irrigation water, some Parachute residents are worried about the town’s tainted reputation in light of a natural gas liquids leak near Parachute Creek. Town Council member and former Mayor Roy McClung said the message needs to get out that “Parachute is not a toxic waste dump” as a result of a leak that is drawing national attention. McClung’s comments came during a meeting late last week, as Williams met with the Town Council to talk about its response to the leak and its efforts to protect the town’s irrigation water supply.

Williams recently said it has determined that the leak resulted from a faulty pressure gauge on a pipeline valve set. The gauge began leaking Dec. 20 and it wasn’t discovered and the leak wasn’t stopped until Jan. 3, when a worker went to inspect a valve that had closed down. The company initially believed the leak was less than 25 gallons. But in March it discovered widespread contamination. It now estimates that about 6,000 gallons of hydrocarbons have been recovered and about 4,000 gallons remain in soil and groundwater. The faulty gauge was on a valve set for a pipeline that leaves Williams’ gas processing plant and carries a mixture of propane, butane and other natural gas liquids to tanks on the other side of Parachute Creek. Williams believes that about 80 percent of the liquids that leaked vaporized once they escaped the pressurized line, but that heavier hydrocarbons seeped into the ground.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says the pressure gauge may be the source of all the contamination, but an investigation continues.

Groundwater monitoring has found high benzene levels near the creek, including on the creek side opposite from the valve set, but it hasn’t been found in the creek water.

Surface water testing

The irrigation season is about to begin, and the town diverts water from the creek into a reservoir that’s used by residents and on town properties. Williams has been working to try to keep the creek water clean and has a plan in place to shut down the reservoir intake should contamination be detected upstream.

Judith Hayward is a Parachute resident who enjoys gardening. This year I’m going to be concerned unless I am assured somehow with testing that this water is not going to give me problems in my garden,” she told trustees and Williams officials.

Dave Keylor, vice president and general manager in the Piceance Basin for Williams, said the company has nine surface water testing points in the creek and six absorbency booms in place. It also visually inspects the creek each half hour and has installed about 90 groundwater monitors as part of its response.

The reservoir diversion point is about two miles downstream from the leak site. The town has given Williams the ability to control the diversion point because of the proximity of Williams workers to it and the company’s continuing monitoring of the water. “We feel confident that at this time, that you can turn your water into the irrigation ditch at the diversion point,” he told town officials Thursday.

The state Department of Natural Resources on Friday reported that diesel-range organics were detected in the creek at the diversion point, but also noted that recent creek tests in the contamination area didn’t detect the organics. Some intermittent diesel-range organics also have been detected upstream from the leak site and may be a result of things such as stormwater runoff from roads. The state also noted that there are several industrial sites between the leak area and the diversion point.

Parachute also has a second, unused reservoir that it is working on using for extra storage to temporarily meet irrigation needs should the creek show contamination. Keylor said contaminated water also could be diverted into that reservoir.

Inaccurate reports

Meanwhile, McClung said he worries about how all the media coverage of the leak will affect the town. “Nobody remembers the good stuff but they remember the bad stuff,” he said, citing environmental disasters in places such as Love Canal and Three-Mile Island. “… I’m afraid that we’re going to start building that kind of reputation in this valley.”

McClung said he has been called from as far away as North Carolina, from people with questions including whether the town will blow up. Town Administrator Bob Knight said he’s taken media calls from as far away as New York. McClung said he overheard at a local restaurant that a family that had been ready to move to Parachute changed their minds because of the leak. “That kills me to see families that don’t want to move here because of this,” he said.

Keylor and town officials said one challenge is inaccurate information reported in the media. Williams has created a website, http://www.answersforparachute.com, to provide information on the incident. Keylor said Williams community and corporate communications representatives also could help work with the town on public relations. Keylor said it’s also going to take “a lot of transparency and a lot of honesty” by Williams in terms of being upfront about the mess he said the company has made and what it is doing to determine the extent of the contamination and clean it up. “We feel our reputation has taken a hit here,” Keylor said, acknowledging that so have the reputations of stakeholders. “We take that personally.”

“It will take some time to rebuild our reputation but we’ll do it, we’re going to get this cleaned up, we’re going to be here for the long haul.”

Benzene questions

Williams’ efforts continue to focus in part on fully delineating the extent of contamination. Keylor said investigators believe they have done that on three sides, but not yet to the southeast of the valve set. The creek also heads southeast from the valve area before briefly angling south. As of Friday, benzene contamination had been determined to extend as far as 1,400 feet from the valve site. The presence of benzene on both sides of the creek has puzzled investigators, who believe that groundwater directly beneath the creek flows away from it, which has helped to keep benzene out of the surface water. “We’ve not yet determined the reason for that,” Keylor said of the benzene found across the creek from the leak site. “There are a couple of hypotheses but we have not nailed down why that is.”

He said lab tests show that hydrocarbons in the immediate vicinity of the valve site are the same as what flows through the natural gas liquids line. But officials are awaiting test results to determine whether the more distant hydrocarbons also match the pipeline’s contents.

Meanwhile, Williams continues to hear criticism that it should have notified more parties after discovering in March it had a significant situation on its hands. David Blair, chief of the Grand Valley Fire Protection District, said when concerns about possible waterway contamination arise, one of the first places the public will call is the fire department. “But we didn’t have a clue” what was going on, he said.

Keylor said Williams mistakenly assumed that regulatory agencies it had contacted would spread the word to other parties, but now realizes it had a responsibility to do so.

Kirby Winn, Garfield County’s oil and gas liaison, said he takes some blame for the poor early communication. He said while he was notified, he failed to pass the information on to the county’s emergency manager, who would have then let the fire department know.

From The Denver Post:

State environmental overseers on Friday said diesel range organics detected in Parachute Creek near a hydrocarbon spill has reached gates to a town drinking water reservoir. The gates have been closed since the spill by Williams energy company’s gas processing plant was reported last month.

The results of water test taken on April 6 and 7 showed diesel range organics at 0.71 and 0.49 parts per million. Diesel range organics at a slightly higher of 0.73 ppm had been found on the creek upstream of the suspected source of the spill.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Parachute Creek spill: Jurisdictional questions unclear for Colorado’s response #ColoradoRiver

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):

State agencies continue to discuss issues of jurisdictional oversight over the liquid hydrocarbons leak near Parachute, something that could have a bearing in terms of the amount of potential fines that could be imposed in the incident.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has been leading the investigation into a leak of thousands of gallons of hydrocarbons in a pipeline corridor near Parachute Creek. “That may continue to be the case but we’re continuing to sort that out,” said Steve Gunderson, director of the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which also has been involved in the case.

The commission has issued notices of alleged violation against Williams, which has pipelines in the corridor serving its adjacent gas processing plant, and WPX Energy, which owns the contaminated site and has wells and other facilities in the area. Williams said this week it has determined that a faulty valve gauge on its natural gas liquids line coming from the plant is the source of the leak, but the commission said while that is a possible explanation, it is continuing to investigate.

By state law, the commission can impose fines of up to $1,000 a day per rule violation, although a bill now being considered by the Legislature would increase that to $15,000. Gunderson said daily fines for violations of his division’s rules can run up to $10,000 a day.

Commission fines also are capped at a total of $10,000 per violation, although that cap can be waived under circumstances such as when significant environmental impacts occur. The legislation now being considered would remove that cap.

Gunderson said while he understands why everyone focuses on penalties, the big costs for violators come from what regulators call “injunctive relief.” “It’s what we require the entity to do to fix the problem and prevent the problem from happening again,” he said.

The commission has rules addressing leaks and contamination related to exploration and production. Health Department rules govern groundwater and surface water contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency also has been involved in the Parachute case. “I cannot say yet how the jurisdictional issues are going to work out,” said Todd Hartman, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources, of which the commission is a part, said this week.

From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson):

An April 10 statement from Todd Hartman, communications officer for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), noted that Williams’ identification of a faulty gauge attached to an above-ground valve as the source “provides a possible explanation of a release in this area.” But, Hartman’s statement continued, “The investigation of the cause or causes of the impacts to soil and groundwater will continue until we can determine whether the release described by Williams accounts for the situation on the ground.”

According to statements from the COGCC and Williams, the company has continued drilling new monitoring wells along the banks of Parachute Creek to determine the overall size of the plume and to check for groundwater contamination.

According to the COGCC’s April 10 bulletin, three new groundwater monitoring wells about 50 feet south of Parachute Creek showed benzene at concentrations between 51 parts per billion (ppb) and 450 ppb. That is considerably lower than the levels of benzene found closer to the reported source of the leak.

Hartman also reported that surface water samples taken from the creek itself, about two and a half miles downstream from the plume, showed no sign of contamination. The samples were taken at about the spot where the town of Parachute takes irrigation water out of the creek.

From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson):

By April 2, [Juan Rodriguez, the Dallas-based deputy regional director of OSHA] said, a formal investigation had begun into reports that employees at the plume site were working without the proper protective gear. Rodriguez emphatically refused to disclose any details about OSHA’s activities at the plume site, but said the results of the investigation would be made public once it is completed. The investigation could take as long as six months, he said…

Meanwhile, a trio of men told the Post Independent this week they fear they have been poisoned from benzene exposure during weeks of work on the hydrocarbon spill…

The three workers all said no breathing devices were distributed to prevent the workers from breathing in fumes from the hydrocarbons.

More oil and gas coverage here and here.

Water court: Subdistrict No. 1 pumpers can claim water from Reclamation’s Closed Basin Project

From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):

A water court judge ruled Wednesday that groundwater irrigators in the north-central San Luis Valley can claim water from a federal reclamation project to offset their pumping. The 45-page order from Judge Pattie Swift allows Subdistrict No. 1 to claim water from the Closed Basin Project, which pumps groundwater from the east side of the valley and sends it to the Rio Grande.

Objectors, which included five parties, argued, among other points, that the use of water from the project injured surface rights owners who were dependent on the Rio Grande and its tributaries.

Swift’s order said the project developed and delivered water to the Rio Grande that would have otherwise never made it to the river. “Thus the court cannot presume that pumping the Closed Basin Project wells causes injury to senior surface water rights,” the ruling said.

The subdistrict, which takes in more than 3,000 irrigation wells in the north-central valley, was created primarily to replace depletions to the river caused by pumping. The subdistrict purchased and leased over 10,000 acre-feet in 2012, including the Closed Basin Project water, and was ordered by the state engineer to return 4,724 acre-feet to the river.

In this year’s annual replacement plan, the subdistrict has again proposed using up to 2,500 acre-feet from the project toward its replacement obligations, although the proposal still requires approval of the state engineer.

More San Luis Valley groundwater coverage here and here.