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Denver-based Antero Resources, the company revealed to be disposing of oil and gas drilling waste to Eagle County in a Colorado Independent exclusive earlier this month, is now being hit with more legal action stemming from its natural gas drilling activities in neighboring Garfield County.
Eagle County’s solid waste and recycling director this week clarified through a spokeswoman that he is not currently considering accepting pit liners from any oil and gas companies in Colorado and that such a decision would have to be made by the Eagle County commissioners. In response to a Colorado Independent story last week, Eagle County solid waste and recycling director Ken Whitehead also pointed out his department has recommended no longer accepting any type of so-called E&P (exploration and production) waste from oil and gas companies.
Community activists battling to mitigate the potential environmental impacts of a proposed 200-well natural gas drilling project in Battlement Mesa reacted sharply Tuesday to the news that Garfield County has dropped an ongoing Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to weigh those risks.
A New York City law firm today will hold a press conference on the West Steps of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver to announce a lawsuit against a Denver-based natural gas drilling company for the alleged contamination of a Silt family’s property “leading to their forced exile from their home and serious health effects.”
As the debate over hydraulic fracturing and health issues related to natural gas drilling has heated up in Garfield County in recent weeks, KJCT News 8 in Grand Junction today is reporting an early morning fire at a Williams’ well eight miles south of Rifle. The fire was reportedly put out in about an hour and half, with minimal damage and no injuries, but the incident is sure to prompt even more calls for tighter local regulation of the oil and gas industry. Williams is the most active drilling company in Garfield County, which saw the second most drilling permits issued in the state in 2010.
Colorado issued the third highest number of oil and gas drilling permits in state history last year, according to Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) Director David Neslin, but oil and gas representatives continue to argue that over-regulation is strangling the industry.
Battlement Mesa residents are once again fuming about Antero Resources natural gas drilling in the community of more than 5,000 on the state’s Western...
Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt Tuesday told the Colorado Independent she doesn’t have enough information to fully evaluate a proposal by Battlement Mesa residents to use county 1041 powers to regulate oil and gas drilling, but added she certainly understands their desire to pursue any avenue open to them.