What’s stalling state’s oilfield disaster plan?

When floodwaters rushed down the canyons of the Front Range the week of Sept. 9, 2013, few understood how far-reaching the damage would be. Almost immediately though, even before the rains ended, images of oil spills and inundated production facilities started appearing on television and on the front pages of our newspapers.

Multi-billion-dollar corporations such as Noble Energy and Encana Corp. had to cease operating hundreds of wells in order to deal with stranded drilling platforms and tank batteries swept from their foundations.

More than 48,000 gallons of crude oil were spilled and some 2,700 oil and gas wells suspended operations. Compared…