3,000 Wells Shut Down in Colorado After Fatal House Explosion

[L. Coyote]

http://www.ecowatch.com/anadarko-explosion-colorado-2381199517.html

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is temporarily closing all its vertical wells across northeast Colorado following a massive house explosion and fire in the town of Firestone last week that killed two people.

The Woodlands, Texas-based oil and gas giant said in press release it was shutting more than 3,000 producing vertical wells, which produce about 13,000 barrels of oil per day, "in an abundance of caution."

Mark Martinez and his brother-in-law Joseph William Irwin III, both 42, were killed in the April 17 explosion. Mark's wife, Erin Martinez, was injured as well her 11-year-old son. A GoFundMe page is currently raising funds for the family.

In its statement, Anadarko acknowledged that the blast occurred approximately 200 feet from the family's recently built two-story home on Twilight Ave., where the company operates an older vertical well drilled by a previous operator.

The tragedy has sparked concerns from local anti-fracking activists over the risks of oil and gas production in Colorado and are calling for a statewide emergency moratorium as officials and regulators investigate the cause of the explosion.

.............

[fun n serious]

1. With all the roll back on regulations

we should expect to see more of this.

[Fresh_Start]

2. it is ridiculous to say abundance of caution after people die

abundance of caution would have been before the deaths and explosions.

[uponit7771]

4. +1

[2naSalit]

3. And where was this story

on the mainstrain media?

Just as I thought... crickets.

[world wide wally]

5. And out here in Colorado, they have been running these commercials on tv about

fracking being absolutely harmless

[ProfessorPlum]

6. shit

that's awful.

"in an abundance of caution."

doesn't that just sound like they want applause for having two seconds worry about blowing other people up in their homes?

[Bengus81]

7. Damn Guberment regulations. They should have been able to operate a well 100 feet from that home

I need a lot of gas for my pickup truck...............

[SCVDem]

8. May I suggest we bring Sarah "Drill Baby Drill" Palin to the scene....

and push her in the well?!

Solar never killed anyone!

[jmowreader]

23. "Solar never killed anyone!"? WRONG!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/explosive-gas-silane-used-to-make-photovoltaics/

In 2007, outside Bangalore, India, an explosion decapitated an industrial worker, hurling his body through a brick wall. In 2005 a routine procedure at a manufacturing plant in Taiwan caused a spontaneous explosion that killed a worker and ignited a blaze that ripped through the factory, shutting down production for three months. Both incidents shared a common cause—silane, a gas made up of silicon and hydrogen that explodes on contact with air. And both incidents occurred in the same industry—solar power.

...

Of course, silane is hardly the only environmental hazard involved in solar cell production. Others include: toxic by-products from polysilicon manufacture dumped indiscriminately in China; air pollution spewed from coal-fired power plants that provide the electricity needed to produce photovoltaics; and recovering cadmium, a known human carcinogen that is a primary ingredient in some thin-film solar cells, from mining slimes. Still, only silane (SiH4) has been linked directly to any deaths as a result of the solar industry.

Silane is a tricky chemical because you don't know what the hell it's going to do. It is pyrophoric, which means it ignites spontaneously in air...but if you release silane into the atmosphere it can do one of three things - it can ignite instantly, it can ignite after a delay (which causes an explosion), or it can not ignite at all. It is both "acutely toxic" - meaning it goes out and kills you right off - and a "simple asphyxiant", which means it displaces all the air from an area and suffocates you.

And here's the best part: this crap is absolutely required for solar cell manufacture.

Here's the safety data sheet for this product: http://airgas.com/msds/001073.pdf

They make a lot of silane in Moses Lake, WA, and ship it on I-90. I don't want to be within a thousand feet of it - if it manages to eat its way through the valves on the trailer it's going to cause a disaster - so when I see a silane trailer I push the fuel pedal down REAL hard.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. If it would drip money

most Republicans would install an oil well in their basement

[Calculating]

11. I would allow one in my backyard if I got paid lol

Can't say no to the money.

[CharleyDog]

20. a well in your backyard

They wouldn't pay much, and who would buy your house when it came time to sell? Also, your neighbors would be affected, also deplete their property value.

[asiliveandbreathe]

27. Oh Charlie -

Welcome to DU I think..

[ffr]

10. I wager they say it's acceptable loses, behind closed doors.

Pay the surviving family off and continue pumping.

It's all about the money. Get all you can while you're alive.

[rickford66]

12. GoFundMe will need lots of thoughts and prayers in the coming years.

[TryLogic]

13. This was just north of Denver. Way too close to housing area!

[PatsFan87]

14. As recent studies indicate, fracking is just too dangerous.

Contamination of water systems, increased asthma risks, birth defects, cancer, blood disorders... no thanks.

[asiliveandbreathe]

29. Yup! - at least Mass. is trying to do something about it -

Smart people in my home state....go pats...

[33taw]

15. I don't think this is a result of fracking. The well was built in the early 90s - pre fracking.

The problem seems more related to allowing homes to be built so close to wells. Adams county, like all of Colorado is exploding with new houses.

[LisaM]

21. Yes, the article said that the house was recently built

and was 200 feet from the well. That caught my eye.

[Louis1895]

25. This appears to have been a conventional well

Conventional wells are called "vertical" because they drill straight down. Hydraulic fracturing wells (fracking) are "unconventional" in the sense that they drill straight down and then make a right turn and go horizontally.

It would be interesting to know if these people have municipal or well water. I would bet the latter.

[eleny]

28. They were fracking here in Colorado in the early 1970's

My husband worked in the oil fields briefly when he was a young man. He now recalls seeing fracking going on back then.

You could look it up but I'll do it for you.
Here, in Wiki, they start the page on fracking with this:
"Hydraulic fracturing in the United States began in 1949."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing_in_the_United_States#Colorado

I understand that you were talking about the well in the article being drilled in the 90s. But it was good place to add some more details to this thread.

[SunSeeker]

16. K & R for exposure.

[CharleyDog]

17. Colorado Supreme Court struck down voter-approved fracking ban

2016 - Longmont (very (very) near Firestone, voted for a fracking ban, but it was overturned by the state Supreme Court. Fracking was done to them anyway, in a big way.

Now, that very area has this fatal explosion. The leak thought to have caused the explosion was from a gas well, not an oil well.

[panader0]

19. Welcome to DU.

[argyl]

24. Same thing happened to Denton, Texas.

City Counsel votes to outlaw fracking and their ban was overturned by the " meet for four months every other year" Legislature. Denton is the only city in Texas that has voted to ban fracking.
And 3rd generation asshole governor Greg Abbott gleefully signed it. First Smirk Bush, then Oops Perry and now this dipshit Abbott.
Denton has also designated itself as a Sanctuary City.
Along with their outrageous attempt to deny the awl bidness their god given right to drill or frack wherever the fuck they feel like this no doubt has them on the government shit list.

[panader0]

18. Let's see---3000 wells and 13000 barrels a day.

Gee, that's an average of 4.33 barrels day from each well. WTF?
Is it worth it?

[Achilleaze]

22. fracking republicans driven by greedhead stupidity

screw the earth and its lifeforms - including humans - in their idiotic quest for filthy climate-queering petropolluting fuelprofits for the few.

deplorable.

[Victor_c3]

26. People that hate regulations seem to forget why we have regulations

Regulations are generally written with blood. We have those annoying safety rules and pain-in-the-ass regulations because people died as a result of them not being in place or followed.