Colorado Oil Spill Reaches 18,000 Gallons


A Colorado oil spill has reached 18,000 gallons, officials say as flood waters recede.

Floods in Colorado have cause massive destruction all around, as previously reported by The Inquisitr, causing a flash flood emergency in Boulder and Jefferson Counties. The waters have since dropped, only to have a massive amount of oil released into the South Platte and St. Vrain Rivers. It seems the state of Colorado just can’t get a break as more oil is being discovered regularly.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association is looking into the reason why thousands of gallons of the fluid have found their way into the waters after the massive flood. It may be that the previous flooding was the reason for silt and debris breaking oil pipes and releasing the pollutants into the rivers.

It is only known that a chain reaction of Colorado oil spills have led to a disaster of a different kind. Anadarko Petroleum has identified a tank which contributed to the spill, and has put absorbent booms into the water as they pumped the remainder of the condensate out of the tank.

Several agencies including emergency response teams and the Environmental Protection Agency have been notified of this new disaster even as a second rupture caused an additional 13,500 gallons of oil to be released into the waters.

According to Doug Flanders, COGA’s Director of Policy, no fracturing fluid additives have been discovered in the Colorado oil spill. While the waters recede, Flanders says that well sites are being inspected for further damage or pollutants by oil and gas operators.

Doug Flanders adds, “These [fracturing] chemicals are not stored on producing well sites … We know there will be minor incidents that will need to be addressed due to the unprecedented nature of this natural disaster.”

As the flood waters drop, hopefully the Colorado oil spills will be contained and rectified and the damage to homes undone.

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