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Colorado regulators are investigating recent accusations that oil and gas drilling companies injected 1.3 million gallons of diesel fuel into the ground during gas drilling activities between 2005 and 2009.
The charge was made in a report written for members of a congressional committee, released in late January, which found evidence that more than 32 million gallons of diesel fuel were used by the industry in 19 states, including Colorado.
“We're currently reviewing our records” to determine if the allegation is true, said Dave Neslin, executive director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, at a meeting on Thursday of the Northwest Colorado Oil and Gas Forum.
The fluids cited in the report were used in a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals are injected into gas-well bores under pressure, to break up buried rock formation and make it easier for gas and oil to flow to the surface.
The technique has been used by the industry for decades, and is now used in nearly all wells currently being drilled, including those in Garfield County.
But the procedure has come under growing scrutiny as the industry has converged on a geologic formation known as the Marcellus Shale, a rock bed the size of Greece that lies about 6,000 feet beneath New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
The New York Times has published several stories in recent days about the drilling phenomenon, under the title, “Drilling Down,” concentrating mainly on the Marcellus Shale operations.
The charge was made in a report written for members of a congressional committee, released in late January, which found evidence that more than 32 million gallons of diesel fuel were used by the industry in 19 states, including Colorado.
“We're currently reviewing our records” to determine if the allegation is true, said Dave Neslin, executive director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, at a meeting on Thursday of the Northwest Colorado Oil and Gas Forum.
The fluids cited in the report were used in a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals are injected into gas-well bores under pressure, to break up buried rock formation and make it easier for gas and oil to flow to the surface.
The technique has been used by the industry for decades, and is now used in nearly all wells currently being drilled, including those in Garfield County.
But the procedure has come under growing scrutiny as the industry has converged on a geologic formation known as the Marcellus Shale, a rock bed the size of Greece that lies about 6,000 feet beneath New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
The New York Times has published several stories in recent days about the drilling phenomenon, under the title, “Drilling Down,” concentrating mainly on the Marcellus Shale operations.
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