A Civitas Resources fracking site near Watkins on Colorado’s Eastern Plains. Credit: CPR

Several oil and gas corporations operating in Colorado have recently been ordered to take corrective actions after third-party contractors reportedly falsified data on over 400 sites in Weld County. That is 60 more sites than what the ECMC reported late last year.

The state sent Notices of Alleged Violations to subsidiaries of Oxy USA, INC., Chevron, Inc., and Civitas Resources, Inc., accusing the companies of breaking state rules by submitting falsified data.

The Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) announced that two environmental consultants hired by oil and gas operators, Eagle Environmental Consulting, INC. and Tasman Geosciences, submitted falsified laboratory data reports. They say the data manipulation affected soil, groundwater, and inorganic and organic contaminant data for 404 oil and gas locations in Weld County.

ECMC staffers revealed that the manipulated data ranged from wrong signatures to incorrect dates to results falsely showing that chemicals were below levels considered harmful. In a case the staff called an extreme example, levels of benzene, a component of crude oil known to cause cancer, was actually over the threshold considered safe by an order of three times. The benzene was in the ground, not the air.

A neighborhood environmental group in Colorado, Save the Aurora Reservoir (S.T.A.R.), has been trying to stop the construction of a Civitas oil and gas project near the Aurora Reservoir for five years. Now, thanks to a State of Colorado investigation, they think they may have the evidence they need to do it.

“It is frustrating. It’s interesting, that’s part of why we’re here is to raise awareness,” said a Community Director with S.T.A.R., who spent part of his Saturday morning setting up their booth at the Arapahoe County Fair. They are trying to raise awareness about the upcoming approval hearing for the Sunlight-Long well, which will be the drilling site closest to the Aurora Reservoir.

Civitas hired one of the environmental consultants in question.

Civitas has said repeatedly that it will protect the environment, having previously stated that they have worked hard to protect the environment and minimize impacts to communities. In a past statement, they told the media: “We’re especially proud of our design and utilization of the latest technologies to achieve and even exceed the state’s and Arapahoe County’s regulations, which remain among the strictest in the country.”

With the ECMC issuing a Notice of Alleged Violation to seven operators, including Civitas, S.T.A.R says they will push harder to keep their projects out of the neighborhood. Especially at the upcoming ECMC meeting that will discuss approval of the Sunlight-Long well.

None of the 404 locations is currently actively being drilled, or pumped. Companies are actively working to clean up 187 of the sites, and that cleanup will be more extensive now that the state has accurate data.

The ECMC previously deemed the other 217 sites “Closed,” or remediated, but that was based on the falsified data.

“These sites would not have been closed had original unaltered data been timely and correctly submitted,” an ECMC environmental data supervisor said during the meeting.

The 217 sites will no longer be deemed closed. How that impacts people living in the area has been the focus of Weld County’s leaders.