Friday was a pretty big news day. Two big stories were reported.

Fracking Rule

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will continue its hearing about the Fracking Rule on Tuesday, December 13.  This continuation is primarily because of new information that was disclosed by the EPA about ground water pollution in Pavilion, Wyoming. Attorneys representing the environmental committee petitioned the Commission to consider the new information before finalizing any rule.

At the hearing on December 5, an employee of Halliburton testified that there had never been any proven instance of hydraulic fracturing polluting any water.  Commissioner Rich Allward questioned that testimony by suggesting that there had never been a study using the scientific method to test a hypothesis. The EPA report on pollution in Pavilion is not a perfect scientific study, but it does come closer.

The EPA drilled two wells to monitor the plume of pollution radiating from a gas well. The results of testing demonstrated the presence of chemicals that are frequently used in fracking, and that are not naturally occurring in nature. Industry is still claiming that the results prove nothing. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is charged with two things: ensuring that there is development of Colorado’s natural resources and protecting the health and safety of citizens, including oil field workers and landowners where drilling is taking place.

The continuation will be webcast on Tuesday, starting at 8:00 a.m. There is a link to the site where the webcast will be posted below.

Colorado’s School Finance is Unconstitutional

A district court judge ruled on Friday that the way that Colorado finances education is unconstitutional because it does not provide the same education to all students in Colorado. Estimates of the funding shortage range from $2-billion to $4-billion. Governor Hickenlooper warned that forcing the state to put more money into education will mean that there will be cuts to transportation and health care. What he should have said is that we cut education funding during the last legislative session, and are facing more cuts in the upcoming legislative session.

This case will be appealed to the Supreme Court. There are two Constitutional amendments in conflict on this case. TABOR does not allow any increase in taxes without a vote of the people. In the elections just last month the people rejected a citizen’s initiative that would have “De-Bruced” education with a temporary increase in sales and income taxes. The Constitution also requires Colorado to provide quality education to all of its kids. The court order, which is 183 pages long, details how current funding has no relationship with what is required to deliver quality education to those kids.

If the order stands, the legislature is directed to consider how to make educational funding more equitable across Colorado. The only possible response from the legislature is to cut other programs, which have already been cut to the bone over several years of recession driven cutting.

In April the University of Denver issued phase 2 of its study on the sustainability of Colorado’s government. The report‘s first paragraph is chilling:

“Twelve years from now, Colorado will generate only enough sales, income and other general-purpose tax revenue to pay for the three largest programs in the General Fund – public schools, health care and prisons. There will be no tax revenue for public colleges and universities, no money for the state court system, nothing for child-protection services, nothing for youth corrections, nothing for state crime labs and nothing for other core services of state government.”

The judge’s ruling on Friday hastens the complete failure of the State of Colorado.

Homework

EPA Report on Pavilion, Wyoming

Q & A About Fracking Study at EPA

Notice of Continued Deliberation on Colorado Fracking Rule

Link to Audio of Rulemaking Deliberations To Be Live on Tuesday

Judge Rules Colorado School Financing Unconstitutional

Actual 183 Page Court Decision

University Study on Sustainability of Colorado Government

Lately I’ve been learning everything I can about fracking fluids. Before getting to that, I’d like to tell you a story.

I grew up in Lead, South Dakota. The town exists because a very rich deposit of gold was discovered there in 1876. When people think of the Wild West, Deadwood comes to mind. Deadwood, down the road three miles from Lead, was famous for its gun battles, whisky, prostitutes, and Chinese immigrants. Lead is hardly mentioned in the telling of Wild West stories, but it was Lead and the lure of gold that drew people to that part of the Black Hills.

Lead is home to the Homestake Mine, which was once the largest gold mine in the world. Gold is no longer mined there; instead the mine is being converted into an underground laboratory where atomic particles, like neutrinos can be studied. But I digress.

In the late 1890’s the Homestake Mine discovered that using cyanide in the processing of gold ore made it possible to recover 100% of the valuable metal, instead of only 90%. As you can imagine, in the largest mine in the world, a lot of cyanide was used. Cyanide is a poison that causes respiratory systems to stop functioning. A teaspoon full of a 2% solution of cyanide can kill an adult within a matter of minutes.

When I was a kid, we were not allowed to play near the creek that ran out of Lead and toward Deadwood. This creek ran black from the cyanide washing out of a retaining pit and into the stream. At the time, the belief was that simply diluting cyanide with enough water would make it less toxic to humans and animals. We used to pump raw sewage down creeks, too, until we learned better. Cyanide can kill off fish populations in concentrations as low as five parts per billion in rivers.

In May of 1998, as much as seven tons of mill tailings containing large concentrations of cyanide spilled into a creek in South Dakota. The result was a lot of dead fish floating downstream, and a $40-million bill to the taxpayers for clean-up. And all of this happened after the mining company developed a strain of bacteria to eat cyanide in an effort to clean up polluted water.

Fast forward to 2011 and Western Slope communities along the Colorado River: The Oil and Gas industry and our Governor are telling us that fracking is safe. However, unlike the Homestake Mine, which always told the community that they were washing toxic cyanide down the stream, the oil and gas industry is refusing to tell anyone what is in fracking fluids. Industry cites Trade Secrets as the reason for not disclosing the recipe, but there may be another, unspoken, motivation to keep us all in the dark—fear of liability.

A story printed by High Country News, told of an emergency room nurse in Durango passing out from fumes coming from chemicals on an oil and gas worker who had been injured on the job. Much of that story seems to have been hushed up. The nurse can’t be found by anyone who wants to interview her, although she once wanted to testify to the COGCC. The worker claims he didn’t have fracking fluid on his shoes. The Durango fire department confirms that the emergency room at the local hospital was treated as a contaminated site at the time of the incident.

The COGCC has proposed a new fracking rule that deals with the disclosure of chemicals in fracking fluids. The proposed rule does not require the industry to disclose chemicals that are Trade Secrets. What is known is that some chemicals in fracking fluids are known carcinogens and poisons. First responders and emergency room personnel need to know what those chemicals are if they are to effectively treat anyone accidentally exposed to them. If the chemicals are as toxic as cyanide, these health care professionals only have a few minutes to get it right.

There will be a public hearing about the bill in Denver on December 5. If you can’t attend the hearing, send your comments to Peter.Gowen@state.co.us .