3 out of 7 wells on Longmont Open Space are contaminated.
TOP Operating’s Stamp 2 gas well is located on the western edge of Union Reservoir. It is 506 feet from the water. It is approximately a mile from TOP’s contaminated Rider 1 well, near Trail Ridge Middle School.
The Stamp 2 gas well is contaminated by toxic petrochemicals above State regulatory standards.
Last year, in January 2011, the City of Longmont received a “Limited Site Investigation,” completed by Terracon Consultants on the Bogott Property, where the Stamp 2 is located. The Bogott property is now owned by the City of Longmont. It is part of Longmont’s Open Space at Union Reservoir.
Regulatory limits are placed on petrochemicals because of their strong toxicity.
The Stamp 2 site environmental investigation reported Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons at 1970 mg/kg in the soil, which is almost 4 times the Colorado Oil & Gas Commission regulatory standard for soil of 500 mg/kg.
Soil contamination at the Stamp 2 by benzene is .029 mg/kg, almost 6 times above the regulatory limit, 0.005 mg/kg.
Ethylbenzene levels are 10 times the statutory level; Xylenes are 340 times the “safe” limit; gasoline range hydrocarbons are 38 times allowable levels.
These readings were from samples taken near the wellhead.
Near the Stamp 2 tank battery, ethylbenzene levels were 20 times the statutory limit; xylenes almost 3 times; and gasoline range hydrocarbons almost 20 times statutory limit.
The Investigation found that the soil has “dark gray petroleum staining and odor” 3.5 feet deep, beside the wellhead,
From 4 to 8 feet deep, the soil is “dark gray-gray, weathering decreasing with depth, petroleum gray stain and odor, slightly moist.”
There are no ground water monitoring wells at Stamp 2. Terracon pushed a 1-inch temporary PVC pipe 8 feet into the ground on December 17, 2010. No ground water was found, at that time of year. Nearby residents report that ground water is encountered at depths of 9-10 feet, 1600 feet from the water’s edge.
Ground water at Stamp 2, so close to Union Reservoir, and now on City Open Space, needs to be monitored and tested more carefully. Engineered groundwater monitoring wells, are the best method for monitoring ground water at oil and gas wells. The COGCC and the City must require that TOP install, monitor and report to the COGCC and the City, accurate reports on the ground water between Stamp 2 and Union Reservoir.
During January 2012, activity was observed at Rider 1 and Stamp 2. Bulldozers, trucks, and pumps were seen at the sites.
At Stamp 2 in late January 2012, a truck with high pressure hoses was observed. The tank battery was being washed down. The wash water, detergents, petroleum wastes and contaminates were not contained, and now leach toward Union Reservoir, as the only protection around the tank battery is an unlined clay berm.
Terracon recommends that the City contact TOP Operating “to pursue remedial activities of the petroleum impacted soil and groundwater above regulatory standards.” The Oil & Gas Commission should also be notified.
There are other TOP operated wells on the Boggot and Sherwood properties, now owned as open space by Longmont. Of the 7 wells where Terracon took soil and groundwater samples, three wells have contamination levels over COGCC limits.
What a mess! Wasn’t the Stamp 2 well already on the Boggot property when the city bought it for open space? Didn’t Longmont do an environmental assessment for possible contamination before the OS purchase closed? Thank goodness for FRL and Longmont ROAR; otherwise contamination at these wells would go unreported. Good reporting to both.
Well, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. ?! I wonder if the City of Longmont even had a complete title search done. It seems a good portion of its “open space” properties sits atop mineral rights owned by someone else. This is probably not a very useful situation. Better praxis is called for.
Sadly, as I read CERCLA (the “SuperFund” act), since the oil operator was never IN TITLE, it is not therefore considered a “PRP,” or Potentially Responsible Party. That may explain why the industry uses leases in 99.44% of its prospects (figurative, not literal percentage). Here is revealed substance for a change that ought to be considered in that law, and fast. I’d write my Congressman, but I’m fresh out of crayons.