The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission approved what the agency’s director called “a tough but fair” $1.53 million penalty against Chevron subsidiary Noble Energy for a well blowout that spewed pollutants over homes and a school.
The ECMC, which regulates oil and gas in Colorado, voted unanimously Wednesday for the agreement signed by state officials and Noble Energy. Crude oil, natural gas and fracking water gushed out of the well April 6-10 in 2025 near Galeton in Weld County.
The cleanup and monitoring continue at the site 22 miles northeast of Greeley. State officials have said remediation of the area isn’t expected to be complete until spring 2030.
“Before you is a very tough, but fair, administrative order and consent that we believe addresses the violations that occurred during the incident,” ECMC Director Julie Murphy told the commission. “I also acknowledge that work remains to be done in remediating the impacts.”
Noble Energy is responsible for the work. The company said the blowout was caused by the improper assembly and setting of equipment that was designed to prevent the flow of liquids.
The incident resulted from human error, “notwithstanding Noble’s extensive safety and preventive policies and practices,” said Matt Lepore, an attorney representing Noble Energy.
Chevron said it has remained engaged with residents who were affected by the well blowout. Chevron spokeswoman Patty Errico said in an email that the company’s claims line for the incident remains open.
The company said work at Galeton Elementary School included extensive cleaning of the interior, exterior, playground equipment and the removal of gravel and mulch.
The school reopened April 22.
The remediation work has focused on 308 individual parcels within 1.5 miles of the Bishop well site. So far, 25 of the parcels have been cleaned up to state standards, the ECMC said.
As of March 13, the agency said the following samples have been collected: 3,358 surface water samples; 5,525 soil samples; 952 air samples; and 382 groundwater samples.
In addition, 28 wells around the well pad are monitoring the groundwater. Chevron said on its website that it recovered about 616,000 barrels of wastewater, including water from decontamination equipment.
Jeremy Ferrin, ECMC’s manager of enforcement, said the staff set the penalty based on the law governing the agency, the agency’s rules and policies and the duration of the violations. The director has the discretion to use a calculation that could have decreased the amount Noble was ordered to pay, Ferrin said, but Murphy chose not to.
Some of the $1.5 million will pay for contractors to do sampling, review and process reports, provide oversight and review records of wells that were shut before 2008 to determine whether they need further engineering evaluation.
“The goals of that enforcement proceeding were to hold the operator accountable and minimize the likelihood of a similar event recurring, not only for this operator but really any operator,” Ferrin said.
About 100 people listened to the online commission meeting, but no members of the public spoke.
“I hope that’s an indicator that ECMC has done a good job in terms of trying to alleviate the impact of this incident,” said Jeff Robbins, the commission chairman.
Commission member Brett Ackerman acknowledged the work by the ECMC staff and Noble Energy in dealing with the incident.
“There have been a lot of sleepless nights over this issue on the part of many, many people,” Ackerman said, “not just those dealing with it from an administrative perspective, but those living in the vicinity.”
