The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is investigating four large releases of wastes from oil and gas reserve pits near Rifle, acting commission director Dave Neslin said today .
The spills took place between November 2007 and February 2008 and drained into Garden Gulch, west of the Roan Plateau,
One release of about 30,000 barrels of drilling mud was promptly reported to the state, Neslin said in a statement.
A second release by a different operator was also reported, but that operator failed to report two other releases of still undetermined volumes.
The releases appeared to have been cause by failures in the liners in the pits, said Deborah Frazier, a commission spokeswoman.
The commission is withholding the names of the two operators and approval on 80 drilling permits pending the completion of the investigation.
Meg Collins, Colorado Oil & Gas Association president, said the commission enforcement action “is a clear example that the existing rules and regulations … are working.”
