On February 12, 2018, historical impacts were discovered during abandonment activities at the Champlin 41-4 #1 production facility. The release became State reportable on February 14, 2018, due to the quantity of impacted soil excavated. Soil excavation activities are ongoing and will be summarized in a forthcoming Supplemental Form 19 Spill/Release Report.
Here’s a timeline of the events surrounding the State reportable release at the Champlin 41-4 #1 production facility, operated by Kerr McGee, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum.
January 29: Flowlines Removed
Anadarko files a report with the COGCC indicating flowlines have been removed from the tank battery.
February 12: Historical Impact Discovery
From the Form 19 report filed by Anadarko, “historical impacts were discovered during abandonment activities” at the site.
February 14: Release Becomes “State Reportable”
The release becomes “State reportable on February 14, 2018, due to the quantity of impacted soil excavated.
COGCC Rule 906.b.(1) states:
Spills/releases of E&P waste or produced fluid exceeding five (5) barrels, including those contained within lined or unlined berms, shall be reported on COGCC Spill/Release Report, Form 19.
While the reported quantity of spilled oil is greater than 5 barrels, an upper bound on the amount spilled has not yet been supplied by the operator. They are required to report this in a supplemental Form 19.
February 16: Town of Erie Notification
On February 16, Anadarko notified the Town of Erie of the spill, which alerted us in the community, at the Erie Protectors, and the media of the incident.
February 18: Denver Post Interview
On February 18, Christiaan van Woudenberg met with Bruce Finley of the Denver Post to take a look at the spill site. Read about it here.
February 19: KDVR Interview
On February 19, Christiaan spoke with Joe St. George of Fox 31 News at the site about his concerns. “We get desensitized to this. This is not normal, this is not OK,” he said during the interview. There were 619 spills in Colorado in 2017, and there have already been 83 spills reported in 2018.
February 19: COGCC Spill Report
On February 19, a spill report was finally made available on the COGCC web site. We’ll update here once the supplemental report detailing the full extent of the spill becomes available.
