Regulators investigate false data on 350 Weld oil, gas sites

WELD COUNTY — State oil and gas regulators are working to learn the extent of environmental damage on 350 shuttered oil and gas well sites throughout Weld County after an investigation revealed that third-party environmental consultants falsified data on closure and remediation reports in the last four years.

According to a press release issued Tuesday, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission reported that false data affected soil, groundwater, and inorganic and organic contaminant data for the wells owned by Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (YSE: OXY) in Weld County.

All of the falsified data had been on disturbed sites, said Kristin Kemp, spokeswoman for the ECMC. The wells, as a result, pose no threat to the public, and only marginal threat to shallow groundwater and surrounding soils. At some point, the investigation could lead to criminal investigations, Kemp said. 

“We are determining a list of priority sites that have to potentially be retested,” Kemp said in an interview. “We have compliance and environmental officers on the ground anyway, but yes, at these 350 sites, our environmental team is prioritizing them based on the potential impact of the falsified data, and prioritizing what sites need” remedial work.

According to an ECMC statement, the organization has put in procedures in place to prevent any future false information, including requiring additional documentation and examination data.

“They were already disturbed sites, and already under remediation closure plans,” Kemp said. “There were many instances of seemingly inconsequential changes to dates, but also changes to contaminant data, such as the presence of arsenic, benzene, or sodium absorption ratio. The part that makes this newsy is the scale of the data, spanning years and 350 sites, but the investigation is still determining the degree of influence per site.”

Oil and gas companies are responsible for cleanup and remediation of all sites in their portfolio, and when sites are due to be shut down or experience a spill, companies must file a Form 27, which details thorough testing for hazardous materials on sites and spells out a cleanup plan. Companies often use third-party consultants to perform such testing.

Occidental Petroleum issued the following statement:

“A third-party environmental consultant informed us that one of their employees, without our knowledge, altered lab reports and associated forms related to some of our DJ Basin remediation projects. Upon notification, we reported the issue to Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission and are reassessing the identified sites to confirm they meet state environmental and health standards.”

The environmental companies — Tasman Geosciences Inc., in Broomfield, and Eagle Environmental Consulting in Wheat Ridge — self-reported the false data, Kemp said.

Andy Boian, spokesman for Tasman Geosciences, said the employee who falsified data no longer works for the company, and supplied false information on only 74 of the 350 affected well sites.

“The same day we found out, we self-reported them,” Boian said. “We are roughly 50% through our audit of the information now, and plan to be in full compliance by the end of the year. All of our documents are in order, we know there’s no more falsifying of data and everything is back in order.

“We don’t know the motivation for our former employee; we don’t have any idea yet,” Boian added. “Why a former employee would falsify data, we don’t know. We don’t have any evidence of payoffs. Our relationships with our clients are very extensive. That wouldn’t happen under our nose with the client affected here. We’ve been scratching our heads for a while now.”

The ECMC has been investigating the false data for four months, Kemp said.

“We were first notified of potentially a few pieces in July, and we started an informal investigation,” Kemp said. “Then we learned of more instances in August, and based on that initial investigation, by October, we realized the scale and scope was potentially as big as it’s shaking out to be.”

Julie Murphy, ECMC director, said maintaining the integrity of its data is paramount.

“Our permitting, compliance, and enforcement procedures — including the submission of reports, data, and samples by operators — are grounded in an expectation that all parties abide by the law and follow a basic professional, ethical code of conduct,” Murphy said in the news release.

A representative of Eagle Environmental said he could not comment based on the ongoing investigation, and representatives from Chevron could not be reached for comment.

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