November 14, 2014

State injection-well probe must get shaking

The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, the state agency charged with overseeing oil and gas development in the state, needs to wrap up its investigation into the earthquake activity that’s been occurring east of Greeley and determine definitively, if and at what level, injecting fracking wastewater deep underground is safe.

That the commission has yet to decide whether the company whose well has been linked to low-level seismic activity violated the terms of its permit last spring is concerning. Now the company, NGL Solutions JD LLC, is asking permission to boost the amount of water it injects underground beyond the amount for which it was initially permitted, according to a story in this week’s print edition of BizWest by reporter Steve Lynn.

This may be perfectly acceptable. The problem, however, is that we don’t know.

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Fracking, the practice of injecting chemicals and liquids deep underground to force valuable oil and gas out of rock formations, is wildly controversial here and nationwide. The economic stakes are enormous and the pressure from industry and anti-fracking activists is equally large. This makes the regulators’ job difficult, but not impossible.

In fairness to the state oil commission, the links between quake activity and deep-well injection activity are not easy to establish. Geologists will tell you that low-level quakes occur all the time and are not a cause for concern.

At what point tremors become big enough to threaten public health and warrant regulatory action is the question we haven’t been able to answer yet. Last spring, the folks in Greeley were startled and deeply concerned when two “human-felt” quakes occurred within a month of each other.

Obviously if a quake had destroyed downtown Greeley, we would be having a different conversation. This issue is more subtle then that. The state deserves credit for setting up a new program to monitor quake activity. It also deserves credit for recognizing that the oil and gas industry needs to dispose of wastewater in a safe, cost-effective way and for allowing disposal to resume in a measured way with close oversight.

But it needs to wrap up its investigation before it allows NGL Solutions to increase the amount of fracking wastewater it is injecting underground. To do otherwise is setting us all up for more earthquakes of the political and economic – as well as actual – variety.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, the state agency charged with overseeing oil and gas development in the state, needs to wrap up its investigation into the earthquake activity that’s been occurring east of Greeley and determine definitively, if and at what level, injecting fracking wastewater deep underground is safe.

That the commission has yet to decide whether the company whose well has been linked to low-level seismic activity violated the terms of its permit last spring is concerning. Now the company, NGL Solutions JD LLC, is asking permission to boost the amount of water it injects…

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