Guv maps out safety plan
Hick asks rigs to plug “orphan wells,” avoids home-proximity issue
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is asking oil and gas operators to pony up money to plug the 700 to 800 “orphan wells” in the state, but he is shying away from taking stances on more contentious policies, such as how close new homes can be built to existing wells.
Also, he won’t force the energy industry to allow state officials to compile a publicly available map of all oil and gas pipelines. Instead, he wants to enhance the 811 call program to ensure homeowners can use their phones to access pipeline information for site-specific areas. Hickenlooper said industry officials were concerned that a comprehensive statewide map could lead to people illegally tapping pipelines to siphon off gas.
Hickenlooper on Tuesday announced a seven-pronged approach he said would improve the safety of the oil and gas industry in the state. He unveiled the steps
in a news conference in his office after a three-month review after a fatal home explosion in Firestone that investigators have linked to a severed gas pipeline.
“The motivation here is that we do everything we can to make not only workplaces safer but our communities safer,” he said.
The policies were formed after the state had oil and gas operators throughout Colorado inspect thousands of wells and miles of associated pipelines after the April 17 blast that killed Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin. On Tuesday, he backed away from comments he made in May calling for a record of flowlines to be made available to the public.
“There is some level of security risk,” Hickenlooper said Tuesday in reference to making public a statewide map of the pipelines. “I recognize that and think that’s a valid argument.”
Hickenlooper’s proposals drew a rebuke from state Sen. Matt Jones, D-Louisville, a lawmaker who often backs environmental issues.
“This plan isn’t protective enough,” Jones said in a statement. “Colorado should be prioritizing people’s health and safety, and not big corporations’ profits. Oil and gas operations have no business being near people’s homes, playgrounds or schools, and the public has a right to know exactly where flowlines are.”
In a panel discussion held Tuesday at an energy summit hosted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, industry players remained wary about the political environment. John Harpole, the founder and president of Mercator Energy, which helps sell and source natural gas supplies, suggested the Democratic governor may turn his back on the oil and gas industry that he courted for years as he considers a potential presidential bid in 2020.
“I really think that he intends to make an example of the oil and gas industry,” he told the panel.
Harpole then called on state lawmakers to act as a check on his power. Senate Republican leader Chris Holbert of Parker said his GOP-led chamber is “the answer.” He said: “I can’t promise to you that nothing bad will happen, but the 18 Senate Republicans are here as your friends.”
Investigators have blamed the fatal home explosion on gas that seeped from a severed 1-inch pipeline. The line was thought to be abandoned but was connected to a well with a valve in the open position. A volatile mix of odorless methane and propane had flowed and saturated the nearby soil. That mixture then seeped into the house, at 6312 Twilight Ave. in Firestone, through French drains and a sump pit, investigators have said.
The explosion exacerbated long-standing tensions over the proximity of oil and gas drilling to residential areas, schools and businesses, especially in areas north of Denver where drilling and development are occurring at a rapid rate.
“We want to make sure we’re pushing ourselves in every way possible,” Hickenlooper said.
Hickenlooper, though, said he wanted other stakeholders to weigh in first on what should be done to regulate how close new housing could be built to existing wells before taking a position. He said Colorado Counties Inc. and the Colorado Municipal League are having ongoing discussions on that hotly debated issue.
“There are a lot of different stakeholders here,” Hickenlooper said. “And I think without them having a chance to persuade me and the General Assembly, I think taking a strong position, that’s premature.”
Colorado currently has about $445,000 available to help plug orphaned oil and gas wells in the state, sufficient to do about 10 projects annually. Hickenlooper wants industry to help pay for a more robust response for up to 800 orphaned wells that regulators say may exist in the state. State regulators say those are wells with no owner or any owner willing or able to plug the well.
“It’s a can that has been kicked down the road for decades,” said Hickenlooper, adding that his approach on the orphan wells could take from five to 10 years to fully take hold. He said the industry fund also could pay for in-home methane monitors for concerned homeowners.
He also said the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission would conduct a review on what other states do on oil and gas rules — especially for pipelines — to determine what is being done elsewhere. He said he will push legislation that would bar ranchers and others from tapping into industry gas lines to get domestic gas, a benefit often extended by the industry to landowners to entice them to be more favorable to drilling.
Hickenlooper said the COGCC will work to improve flowline regulations, including considering whether low-pressure pipelines should still be exempted from industry pressure testing. Also, the state will create a work group to look at ways to improve safety training of oil and gas operators. He said the state will also encourage the industry to explore technology, such as that used by BP America Production Co., that makes it easier to detect methane leaks.
Al Walker, the president of Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the top gas producer in the state and the owner of the pipeline linked to the deadly Firestone explosion, on Tuesday issued a statement welcoming Hickenlooper’s approach. “We will continue working with the governor, state regulators and legislators in the coming weeks and months to effectively implement the measures that have been identified to date,” he said.
Environmentalists said more needs to happen.
“These measures mean that Colorado communities and families may at least see some relief from the impacts of oil and gas drilling,” Pete Maysmith, executive director of Conservation Colorado, said in a statement. “But this is just the beginning of the road. We hope that our leaders do much more in the near future to ensure that communities are safe and our health and environment are protected from the dangers of oil and gas development.”
Currently, the state has only three people tasked with ensuring the integrity and safety of miles of pipelines in Colorado connected to about 53,000 active wells and associated with an additional 36,500 inactive wells. Those employees weren’t deployed by the COGCC until 2016, which means the vast majority of pipelines in the state still haven’t been inspected.
A 2014 risk report prepared by COGCC for lawmakers identified crumbling and deteriorating pipelines carrying oil or gas from wells to tanks and to other equipment in the field as the leading cause of oil and gas industry leaks.
Under the current system, COGCC audits oil and gas operators on whether they maintain records to show they are conducting required annual pipeline pressure tests. Companies pass the audit if they show they have conducted pressure tests on a third of their pipelines, which the company selects for review.
The state also has been criticized by federal regulators for having an inadequate system for preventing pipeline-excavation damage, which is responsible for about a third of the state’s gas pipeline leaks. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has rated as inadequate Colorado’s enforcement of its excavation damage prevention laws.
An 811 call system tracks excavation damage, but the state has not come up with a way to punish violators, the federal regulators said when deeming the state’s enforcement inadequate. Excavation damage occurs nearly four times a day in Colorado when developers, homeowners or builders hit gas pipelines, according to state data.
Hickenlooper said he still is open to creating a way for the state to fine those who violate excavation laws, but the proposals he unveiled Tuesday did not specifically address that issue.