This film shows the characteristics of the black seep which expressed along a depression just in front of and at the base of the Northface cliff (immediately behind which EnCana continues to drill and frac).
Along this depression there were many vent holes where gas also escaped. On this film, you'll see an area of gas bubbling (toward the end upper right corner) and you'll see a stream flowing from beneath a boulder.
We have noticed a pattern of expression with this type of gas seep -- many of the pathways of expression are associated with vegetation (following root systems) and exiting beneath heavy objects like boulders or even smaller 5 or 10 pound rocks.
It is interesting that this seep also occurred in association with a sudden upwelling of ground water. However, the ground water in a riparian area like this creek bed tends to charge the surface water and vice versa. This above-and-below-ground dynamic is known as the "mixing zone". This is why it is so important that the 'groundwater' near the surface, here, is tested for the kind of contamination that was found in these soils when they were tested.
When the COGCC collected samples, they were found to contain Diesel Range Organics [DRO], an oil-related hydrocarbon known to possess cancer-causing benzene. Yet, the COGCC refuses to test the groundwater -- which we drink. Usually, the presence of DROs in an otherwise clean environment is associated with oil spills, heavy equipment, leaks of home heating oil, etc.... We strongly suspect this has occurred in association with drilling or fracing operations occurring a short distance away.
Even more disturbing than the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissions (COGCC) reluctance to test the groundwater is the fact that fracing fluids are typically "proprietary", so we may never know what is in this water that we consume and are otherwise exposed to.
Recently, in Durango, CO a nurse came into contact with drilling fluid and nearly died. The company who knew the formula, however, refused to disclose it citing that it increased their profits and to have to share that info would be like revealing Coke's formula. So, they just stood by as this woman went into massive organ failure. Her doctor has to guess how to treat here. Luckily she survived and tried to share her story at a recent COGCC hearing where the state is considering important rule changes. But an industry attorney blocked her testimony.
In April, 2004, this region was the focus of a massive natural gas well blow-out that released an estimated (and acknowledged) 115 million cubic feet of natural gas into the environment.
EnCana Oil and Gas, USA was found by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to have been responsible for this devastating event.
Despite that and despite that the seep is ongoing, and despite us have found a new seep on June 28, 2008, the COGCC continues to allow drilling of this extremely fragile area by the same operator who caused the seep in 2004. And, as of this post (08-06-08) the COGCC (same supervisor in charge of that and this investigation) continues to minimize the full scope of the new seep through a failure to fully investigate. They will not even test the ground water which we drink.
EnCana stands to rake in 6 billion from drilling and fracing this area, and the absence of inquiry helps ensure they get to keep on pursuing it without adequate protection for the environment or the people who live here.
To follow the course of natural gas development and its impacts to this very special place in Colorado, visit journeyoftheforsaken.com
All videos are best viewed with Quicktime, which you can download free online.
[This video was filmed 06-30-08 -- two days after we discovered the new seep in West Divide Creek]
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Divide Creek Seep 2008 - Black Seepby DivideWatch1,403 views
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