Oil and gas firms surprised by state
All three oil and gas companies accused by the Colorado Attorney General's office of endangering a trout hatchery in a Western Colorado creek with a pipeline construction project say they were blindsided by the allegations and the state's demand for an immedate restraining order and injunction to halt the project.
But a state official said Wednesday his staff talked to all the companies involved.
John Suthers, Colorado's attorney general, said Tuesday his office had asked the Garfield County District Court for an immediate 10-day restraining order and injunction against three companies, some of the largest in the nation's oil and gas industry.
The office filed its motion Tuesday at the request of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.
The request for a restraining order and injunction grew out the state's investigation of reported chemical spills from drilling pits in the area operated by Berry Petroleum Co. and Marathon Oil Co., according to the public health department.
"We had a representative in the area, and the representative started driving around," Steve Gunderson, director of the public health department's Water Quality Control Division, said Wednesday.
During one drive, the inspector saw a construction project, to build an underground pipeline to carry natural gas for miles, he said.
"We saw lots of soil disturbance with no controls," Gunderson said.
The attorney general's suit names Enterprise Products Co., subsidiary Enterprise Transportation Co., Berry Petroleum Co pay day loan. and Marathon Oil Co. for failing to control construction runoff from the construction project. When complete, the 8-inch pipeline near Parachute in the booming Piceance Basin will gather natural gas from a group of wells and transport the gas to a processing facility.
According to Suthers' announcement, large areas of loose soil and banks of soil at the construction site lack the necessary control structures to minimize sediment runoff caused by rainfall and snowmelt. As a result of the companies' failure to mitigate these conditions, dirt is washing from the road and trench areas into Corral Gulch, and, shortly thereafter, off a cliff into Garden Gulch. The sediment-laden water then washes into Parachute Creek, a fishery which serves as a habitat for trout and other cold-water aquatic species.
Spring runoff is now occurring, thereby greatly increasing the amount of soil released from the site and further endangering aquatic wildlife, the state alleges.
"This is a project that goes for miles with little or no controls on the earthwork, and we're entering the spring runoff season," Gunderson said.
Although Marathon and Berry have stormwater permits covering this site, none of the companies has implemented the necessary "Best Management Practices" to control and minimize sediment runoff, the state claims.
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