EPA fracking findings in Wyoming relevant in Colorado disclosure debate; Garfield County resident cites parallels between two EnCana cases

EPA fracking findings in Wyoming relevant in Colorado disclosure debate; Garfield County resident cites parallels between two EnCana cases by David O. Williams, November 17, 2011, The Colorado Independent
EnCana in 2004 was hit with a $378,000 fine for failing to properly cement and later fracking a natural gas well near Bracken’s property that ultimately leaked thermogenic and highly flammable methane into West Divide Creek. For years, that fine stood as the record amount levied against an oil and gas company in Colorado, only to be surpassed recently by other spills, including by a company doing contract work for EnCana. Bracken says the contamination has continued on her property but that the EPA has deferred to state investigators who concluded the latest seepage on her property is biogenic and naturally occurring – issuing a new round of drilling permits to EnCana in the area. “This is groundwater impact, this is surface water impact, and we’re drinking from this source — not to mention what’s going on upstream still [with more drilling] — and where’s the EPA?”… Bracken contends the state and the EPA have done a poor job of getting to the bottom of what’s really going on in the Divide Creek area, citing a lack of pre-drilling baseline water samples and a lack of public disclosure of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process. “We’re drawing water out of that same formation,” Bracken said. “We’re drinking it and there’s no disclosure about fracking chemicals from 2004 all the way forward. I’ve asked [EnCana and the state] at least a dozen times; they will not disclose them and we’re forced to drink it not knowing because we don’t have any other option. We just can’t afford another option. And the state won’t make Encana haul [water].”

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