Oil company 'confused' about source of spill
Four days after a malfunctioning valve dumped 6,500 gallons of crude oil on the ground near a north Fort Collins subdivision, the cause of the equipment failure remains a mystery.
“We’re really confused as to what caused the valve to fail,” said Ward Giltner, a managing member of Prospect Energy, the Denver-based company in charge of the oil processing facility where the 150-barrel spill took place.
The good news: The Environmental Protection Agency reports the Thursday afternoon spill will have no short- or long-term environmental impacts.
But the oil spill, which lasted about 45 minutes, now ranks as the largest on record in Larimer County. The “vast majority” of incidents statewide spill 5 barrels of oil or fewer, said Greg Deranleau, environmental manager at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
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In 2015, oil spills of more than 50 barrels accounted for about 1.5 percent of 615 reported spills, according to Center for Western Priorities data analysis.
The spill began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at 1229 E. Douglas Road, also known as Larimer County Road 54. It lasted roughly 45 minutes, Giltner said.
Prospect Energy staff noticed the spill within about 10 minutes and called for backup to replace the faulty valve and stop the flow of crude oil. The company had up to 24 hours to report the spill to local authorities and waited to notify them until 9:30 a.m. Friday because leaders wanted to “get a handle on the situation” first, Giltner said.
Prospect’s faulty valve has been sent to a lab for inspection, said Giltner, who added that it was designed to carry up to 700 pounds of pressure and had 15 pounds of pressure on it at the time of the spill.
Cleanup so far has involved collecting contaminated soil with backhoes and putting it in a waste pile. Workers will later take the soil to a certified waste disposal site.
Crews used a temporary barrier of compacted soil to limit the spread of oil beyond the processing facility site, said Katherine Jenkins, a public affairs specialist for EPA’s Region 8, which includes Fort Collins.
Because soil at the facility is very tight, the spill only soaked 3 to 4 inches into the ground, said Jenkins, who added there are no short- or long-term environmental impacts to the area. The facility is near a handful of designated wetlands as well as Richards Lake and the Hearthfire subdivision.
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Poudre Fire Authority staff monitored air quality in the area and reported no health impacts. PFA also reported no negative impacts to wildlife or waterways.
The spill and cleanup caused “a big commotion” on Thursday and Friday, said Leslie Knaup, who lives in the Hearthfire subdivision about a half-mile southeast of the spill. But before she noticed the crews and fire trucks, she noticed the smell. Crude oil often gives off a rotten-eggs aroma.
“It was stinky,” Knaup said. “Very stinky.”
She and her family moved to Fort Collins in 2007 without knowledge of the nearby oil wells and processing facility. Her home faces a wetland area, and she likes to sit outside and watch the birds and deer roam among the reeds nearby.
“The wetlands are why we moved here,” she said. “They’re beautiful. You don’t want to see anything happen to them.”
Prospect Energy stores crude oil pumped from nearby wells — most of them are north of city limits — in one large crude oil tank at the processing facility, which also holds two water tanks. The crude oil is stored there until it’s trucked to a refinery, Giltner said.
To prevent future spills, the company plans to replace the facility's 700-pound-rated valves with 2,000-pound-rated valves and install pit liners on the barriers surrounding the tanks, Giltner said.
COGCC rules require Prospect Energy to file a supplemental spill report by Sunday, Deranleau said. At that point, the company should have plans for long-term cleanup.
Prospect Energy is the former owner of the Fort Collins Field north of the city. The company has filed incident reports for at least 11 other spills in Larimer County since 2011, but this spill is the largest by far.
The last large-scale oil spill in the Fort Collins area was in 2014, when a Noble Energy storage tank damaged by flooding released 7,500 gallons of crude oil into the Poudre River in Windsor. That spill occurred in Weld County.
Larimer County's biggest oil spills on record
1. Prospect Energy, north Fort Collins
Date: Oct. 28, 2016
How much oil: 150 barrels
2. Whiting Petroleum Corporation, Wellington
Date: June 16, 1993
How much oil: 63 barrels
3. Whiting Petroleum Corporation, Wellington
Date: Nov. 8, 1996
How much oil: 60 barrels
4. Whiting Petroleum Corporation, Wellington
Date: Nov. 9, 1996
How much oil: 50 barrels
5. Tom Fenno Production LLC, Wellington
Date: Jan. 3, 2014
How much oil: 25 barrels
Source: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
