It just keeps getting worse. A record in January. A record in May. And another record in June — 151 oil & gas spills reported in Weld County, representing 85.3% of the 177 total spills reported for the month of June in Colorado.
See these spills on a map of Weld County.
For context, here is the current active well density in Weld County. Approximately half of the 45,000 active wells were drilled after January 2000:
Here are the spills for all of 2024 YTD by facility type for all of Weld County:
And here are the 2024 spills per month:
Notes and Observations
- This is very very bad. The record 151 spills in June is 42% more than the previous record set in January 2024.
- Most of the spills are co-located/concentrated in the southwest area of the county with the majority of the active wells.
- We don't see an obvious explanation for the dramatic increase in spills. For example, we don't see an increase in the number of inspections, or plugged wells.
- By facility type, the largest number of spills occur at tank batteries, 282 so far this year.