Fines for Garden Gulch drilling spills finally to be imposed after more than three years

In early 2008, two separate releases of hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemically laced hydraulic fracturing fluid and other natural gas drilling fluids spilled into Garden Gulch on the Roan Plateau north of Parachute, forming a spectacular frozen icefall of contaminated water. Nearly three and a half years later, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) has finally struck a deal with the two companies responsible for the spills and will likely levy fines at a hearing next week.

New report cites nearly 1,000 oil and gas spills in Piceance Basin in last decade

A nonprofit sportsmen’s group Thursday released a report detailing 10 years of oil and gas spills in the three counties in Northwest Colorado that include parts of the heavily drilled Piceance Basin. The Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance released an analysis (pdf) detailing nearly 1,000 spills of wastewater, oil and other fluids between 2001 and 2010 – or a rate of about 100 a year. The data came from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), which regulates oil and gas drilling in the state.

Natural gas industry regulators, officials say fracking chemical disclosure won’t stop spills

Colorado’s top oil and gas regulator and the head of one of the state’s leading industry lobbying groups both say federal legislation compelling disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing would not have prevented the state’s worst cases of groundwater contamination.

State touts new voluntary website aimed at public disclosure of fracking chemicals

Colorado oil and gas regulators are touting a new website, set to debut in mid-April, that will allow operators to voluntarily register chemicals used in the controversial but commonly used process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), under revised oil and gas drilling regulations that went into effect in 2009, already requires operators to disclose fracturing chemicals if requested by state regulators or by health professionals.

GarCo officials blast state gas drilling rules in case requesting more well density

Despite three Republican county commissioners seen as largely supportive of the oil and gas industry, one of the most heavily drilled counties in Colorado claims the state’s oil and gas drilling regulations “fail entirely” to address the cumulative impacts of increasing the concentration of natural gas wells, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

Ritter, oil and gas industry to announce major wildlife accord

State officials have struck a deal with Exxon Mobil, EnCana, Williams and other major oil and gas companies operating in the Piceance Basin of Colorado’s Western Slope, agreeing to minimize impacts to wildlife when drilling in important habitat areas.

Gov.…

Numbers indicate GOP off-base on ‘job-killing’ drilling regs

Republicans campaigning for the governor’s office in November keep hammering on the “job-killing” amended oil and gas drilling regulations championed by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in 2008 and 2009.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has said

‘Gasland,’ showing on HBO tonight, skewers Colorado’s natural gas industry

Filmmaker Josh Fox was living in northeastern Pennsylvania above the massive Marcellus Shale natural gas play when he decided to make “Gasland,” a documentary premiering tonight at 7 p.m. on HBO that shows the environmental dangers of natural gas…

Silt resident compares gas-benzene spill to Gulf disaster

A property owner south of Silt says benzene and other cancer-causing compounds continue to seep into West Divide Creek and that state and county officials are engaging in the same sort of regulatory denial that led to the Deepwater Horizon oil and gas spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ritter’s oil and gas rules one year later

All was relatively quiet on the Western Slope in terms of oil and gas legislation this past session, perhaps reflecting an overall weariness after more than a year of wrangling over the controversial drilling regulations introduced last spring.