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The US state of Colorado is home to tens of thousands of gas wells, places where the controversial
practice of fracking takes place.
But Colorado also happens to be a flood plain.
And earlier this month, floods devastated the north-central part of the state, killing
eight people and displacing thousands. The floods also caused unprecedented damage, including
overturning multiple liquid storage tanks used in the process of fracking.
Let's just take a moment to explain why this could be a problem. In basic terms fracking
involves injecting a cocktail of chemicals mixed with water and sand into wells, aka
holes that have been drilled in the ground, at high pressure in order to fracture underground
shale. The idea is that when the shale is fractured, it releases natural gas that can
then be used for energy. When this gas is then pumped out, it also
releases water that was lodged underground with it. This water is not like the stuff
that comes out of our taps and can contain salt, metals, and sediments that are sometimes
toxic or even radioactive. And for a while this water is stored at tanks
near to the wells before it can be trucked off.
So not only do active fracking sites often have storage tanks filled with possibly toxic
or radioactive water, but they also have storage tanks containing that cocktail of chemicals
that's used to help fracture the shale in the first place.
Both nasty things that risk being leaked if the tanks they're stored in are damaged. And
in the case of the recent flooding of Colorado overturned.
Weld County - one of the hardest hit areas - is home to 20,000 oil and fracking wells
alone. Some of the fracking wells can be seen here,
represented by red dots. Due to the close proximity of some of the wells, each dot represents
somewhere between 1 and 20 wells. And that gives you an idea of the potential
magnitude of the problem that Colorado is facing.
But although it's the dislodged storage tanks at fracking sites that have been getting the
most attention from environmental campaigners in Colorado, they're not the only issue of
concern. Storage tanks near Colorado's many oil wells have also been dislodged, and like
the tanks near fracking wells, these may also contain contaminated water, as well as the
lubricants and other chemical agents used in oil drilling.
And there are also multiple gas and oil pipelines that have been been ruptured by the floods.
Right now, it is still unclear what the impact of all of this damage is. According to the
state government's Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, most of the wells in the flooded
areas are either oil wells or inactive gas wells where fracking is no longer taking place.
If they are right, this means that the biggest threat to Colorado's natural environment is
more likely to come from leaks from the oil sites, rather than the fracking sites.
There's also the possibility that the sheer quantity of flood water will actually dilute
any leaks of chemicals or contaminated water. But at the moment of course, this is all speculation.
What we do know is that Colorado doesn't exactly have a good track record on environmental
responsibility. A 2012 report from the nonprofit organisation
Earthworks found that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission was failing to
enforce its own rules and that for the 516 spills that had occurred in 2011, only 5 fines
had been handed out. What is more Earthworks found it was physically
impossible for inspection staff to inspect every well in Colorado once per year and that
the number of inspections were decreasing as the number of wells were increasing.
As usual you can let us know what you think about all of this in a comment below and if
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