
This map depicts spills reported to the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) by the volume of oil, produced water, condensate, and other fluids spilled at oil & gas locations in Weld County, Colorado. Top spills with more than 200 “blue barrels” (BBLs) of oil spilled have been called out on the map. Also shown are the quantities of contaminated soil and water removed as a part of spill remediation efforts; see the legend below for details.
In 2024, Weld County accounted for 80% of the oil and 47% of the gas produced in Colorado, but also 81% of the reported spills. The number of spills have grown dramatically in 2024, now averaging 5 per day. See the chart below for details.

Spills most often occur at tank batteries (32%), well heads (25%), and flowlines (19%) at varying distances from an oil & gas location. In Weld County, 90% of these spills occur within 300 ft of an oil & gas location, but 42% of reported spills are not associated with a specific location. To address this inconsistency, each spill’s data has been grouped with the data from the nearest oil & gas location.
The data was compiled using GIS data downloaded from the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) web site at https://ecmc.state.co.us/ on January 27, 2025.
This map has been created for the Erie Protectors in partnership with EcoCarto, a local mapping consulting firm. Visit their online store to order a printed 24″ x 36″ poster of any of these maps, and please contact us if you would like to have us create a similar map for your area.
Data Sources
- Municipal boundaries and population counts from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) from the Colorado Information Marketplace.
- The final approved 2021 Colorado House redistricting plan from the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission.
- Highways, major roads, local roads, water, and waterways from OpenStreetMap data for Colorado, courtesy of Geofabrik and the OpenStreetMap Foundation.
- Spill data from the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission (ECMC fka COGCC).