EWG News release
Feds’ Roan Plan Means Drilling & Toxic Chemicals in Sportsman's Paradise
Report: Widespread Use of Hazardous Pollutants in Hydraulic Fracturing
WASHINGTON, June 10 – As Colorado holds hearings on how to protect the state and its residents from the environmental impacts of oil and gas drilling, the Bush Administration announced it will open up the entire top of the pristine Roan Plateau to drilling. The decision is a slap in the face to Colorado’s elected officials, most of whom have bent over backward to support limited drilling atop the Plateau. It also means that millions of gallons of fluids laced with toxic chemicals could be injected into the wells that are drilled in the area, considered a hunting and fishing paradise. As the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission held a hearing today in Grand Junction, Environmental Working Group and the Endocrine Disruption Exchange released a report on the widespread use of chemical injection, also called hydraulic fracturing or fracking, in oil and gas wells. The report, available at www.ewg.org, found that oil and gas companies have already injected at least 430 million gallons of chemical-laced fluids into more than 9,000 wells statewide. At least 65 of the chemicals the companies use in drilling operations are listed as hazardous under six major federal environmental laws. “After Gov. Ritter, Sen. Salazar and Reps. Salazar and Udall went the extra mile to accommodate the Administration, the BLM ignored them entirely and gave the oil and gas industry everything they asked for,” said EWG Public Lands Analyst Dusty Horwitt. “It’s time for Colorado’s leaders to stand firm and return to their original position: Put the entire Roan off-limits to drilling and protect one of Colorado's most beautiful and pristine places.”# # #
The EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. EWG’s report on Colorado Oil and Gas operations can be found at: http://www.ewg.org/reports/injection