FORT LUPTON, Colo.—A Fort Lupton woman says she lives in constant fear and is terrified her home could blow up because of natural gas that has seeped into her water supply.
Amee Ellsworth can turn on a faucet in her kitchen or bathroom, flick a lighter and watch flames shoot up from the sink. And she says she’s afraid she or her neighbors are at imminent risk of an explosion.
Dave Neslin, acting director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said tests show there is gas in the homeowner’s water well and that it likely came from wells in the area.
There are eight wells within a half-mile of Ellsworth’s home that are owned by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Noble Energy Inc.
“We haven’t determined that either company is responsible,” Neslin said.
The commission, which has been investigating the problem since late fall, has encouraged the companies to meet with the homeowner.
Ellsworth said she was scheduled to talk to company officials Friday.
“Obviously, this doesn’t happen very often, considering that we have 38,000 active oil and gas wells in the state,” Neslin said.
When it does happen, the state and operators take it seriously, he added.
Other Colorado landowners have had similar problems. In the 1980s, gas from old wells that were improperly drilled or sealed migrated into water wells in southwestern Colorado. One family reported that lemonade made with tap water caught fire when it was close to the stove.
The state halted coal bed methane drilling in late 2007 on River Ridge Ranch, a rural subdivision near Walsenburg in southern Colorado, after problems with methane venting from water wells and a small fire at a water well sparked by built-up methane. Around the same time, an explosion raised the roof on a shed over a water well near the subdivision.
The company, Petroglyph Energy of Boise, Idaho, has drilled monitoring wells and is developing a plan to prevent more seeps.
