Upward revision
Gas spill now estimated at 97,000 gallons, making it largest on state record
Patrick Goddard, owner of Rainbow Springs Trout Farm, south of Durango, at his fish farm June 27. In December, about 80,000 of his fingerlings died, raising questions about impacts from the gas spill on the Florida Mesa. Water for the trout farm comes from groundwater that flows out of the mesa./ Photo by Shannon Mullane, The Colorado Sun
A gasoline spill in La Plata County, one that threatens the nearby Animas River, was at least four times larger than originally reported, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.
After the state and tribe questioned the accuracy of the original estimate, Enterprise Products LLC, which owns and operates the pipeline, found that the underground pipeline leaked 97,000 gallons of refined gasoline into the ground on Florida Mesa, just southeast of Durango. The company’s original estimate was 23,000 gallons.
“The updated estimate underscores the seriousness of the incident, which is now estimated to be the largest refined gasoline pipeline spill in Colorado since CDPHE began tracking such releases in 2016,” the health department and the Southern Ute Tribe said in a joint news release Tuesday.
Community members reported gasoline on the ground’s surface Dec. 5, 2024, prompting a hazmat crew to respond and residents to evacuate. Houses in a small subdivision within the boundaries of both La Plata County and the Southern Ute Reservation near the spill received water filters and cisterns. Some residents stayed temporarily in hotels while others left the area entirely.
The pipeline’s leak-detection systems didn’t notify Enterprise of the spill, according to news reports. Residents questioned the original estimate, saying that it could have been leaking for a long time before it was reported or that it’d have to be larger to soak the ground’s surface.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Patrick Goddard, who owns Rainbow Springs Trout Farm and lives downhill from the spill site, said. He’d heard estimates from 500 gallons to 120,000 gallons. “It keeps seeming to go up.”
The pipeline is part of Enterprise’s Mid-America Pipeline System, which extends through Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming and other states. In La Plata County, the Four Corners Lateral Loop passes through farmland and backyards on Florida Mesa before running down the mesa’s slope and under the Animas River.
The spill leaked benzene and other contaminants into the mesa. Benzene is a component of crude oil products and is a caustic short-term threat for headaches and nausea. Longer-term exposure risks include leukemia and other conditions, according to CDPHE.
The cause of the spill was “material failure of the pipeline or welding,” according to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Enterprise Products’ July report did not elaborate on the investigation into the cause. No new information had been reported to CDPHE indicating the cause has changed or that the investigation is ongoing, the agency said Aug. 11.
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