Dear Editor,

In the Republican frenzy to slash our government, control our reproductive lives, pass big tax cuts, cut the welfare state supports, and starve the federal government, they also want to de-regulate everything. What does that mean? 

A striking example might be found in the breach of the dam holding the contaminated water from the Gold King Mine, near Silverton, CO. in 2015. A contractor for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) while attempting to shore up that dam accidentally breached it. Several million gallons of orange colored toxic water made its way into the Animas River, then the San Juan, and finally the Colorado River at Lake Powell.  

When sub surface mines are abandoned, they eventually fill with water to the level of the water table. Various chemical processes then cause bad things to leach out of the newly exposed rocks, resulting in acid mine drainage which can contaminate both groundwater and surface streams. That spill “foreshadowed a far larger problem: Colorado alone contains more than twenty thousand abandoned subsurface metal mines, and many of them pose at least a potential threat to the Colorado River or other freshwater sources.” (from Where the Water Goes, Life and Death along the Colorado River). Much of this mining occurred before Colorado had become a state, and regulation of them was not possible. They left a lot to clean up.  

Fast forward to today, and the 50,000 + oil and gas wells in Colorado, 22,000+ in Weld County alone.   As wells are slowly depleted, some are designated as low producers, called “stripper wells”, (less than 5 barrels/day).  The State of Colorado is tougher on oil and gas operators than they are in states like Wyoming or Oklahoma. Our state requires all wells to be restored with native vegetation and storm water protections, and stripper wells to be plugged and restored. To dodge this responsibility, some of these operators sell off their stripper wells to newly formed corporations, relieving them of responsibility for the restoration, and then, often after giving out bonuses to their top executives, declare bankruptcy of the new shell corporation, thus leaving the state responsible for the cleanup. These are bad operators who need to clean up after themselves, something they should have learned in kindergarten.  

Who will suffer as a result of this? First the landowners who are adjacent to these wells, because they could have tremendous weed problems and stormwater erosion. Imagine 50,000 patches of Canada Thistle or tumble weed spreading all over the state. Next is the State of Colorado which has to pay to plug and clean up these abandoned wells, which is very expensive. And finally, the whole world, as more and more greenhouse gases are emitted in these leaky old wells, thus increasing global warming by another of the thousand cuts that are warming our planet far outside the curve to keep us under 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

When Trump was president last time, he relaxed over 100 “regulations” that controlled many aspects of oil and gas production, including methane releases, flaring, and drilling on public lands. Trump called climate change a hoax, while he lives in an air-conditioned world. His followers nod and believe. But the rest of humanity knows that global warming is real, happening today, and accelerating at a faster rate than previously predicted. He can’t affect Colorado’s regulations but can and has done great damage to federal ones. So, when you hear the mantra to “de-regulate,” don’t ignore the potential threats to the average American. Regulations can protect.

Finally, there is a proposal to re-build an 88 mile rail line on the tracks of the current rail lines to transport over 300,000 bbl  DAILY from Utah’s largest oil field to the national rail network, following the Colorado River thru Glenwood Canyon. If you’ve travelled Glenwood Canyon, you know how fragile it is, and how incredible the engineering was to squeeze I-70 into it.  What could possibly go wrong?   if you’re one of the 40 million Americans who rely on that water downstream, it matters. The proposal would allow up to 500 tankers per day full of heated waxy crude from tar sands in Utah. It should be noted that the US is the global leader in oil and gas extraction at 21.91 million bbls/day, with Saudi Arabia a far off second at 11.13 million bbls/day and Russia 3rd at 10.75. We simply don’t need this dirty oil. See the chart below for the staggering increase in daily rail shipments which could flow through this fragile canyon. 

One of Trump’s campaign slogans was, “Drill, baby, Drill!” … as if we were somehow deficient.  Quite the contrary, we are maximizing our potential. I fear Trump has blinders on and could de-regulate all this by gutting the EPA. Pay attention and fight this foolish and dangerous proposal.  

Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County