GALETON, Colo. — Extensive cleanup efforts in Weld County continue more than six weeks after the release of oil and gas at a Chevron well site in the Galeton area.
The release at the Bishop Well site in Weld County prompted evacuations on April 6. One person was injured and taken to a medical facility, according to Chevron. The incident also forced Galeton Elementary to close for two weeks.
Of the 14 homes that were evacuated, only five have been allowed to return, according to Chevron. On Tuesday, Denver7 spotted crews cleaning gutters and home exteriors and bagging up soil within a half-mile of the Bishop Well site.
"It's rough," said Kim Hielscher, the principal of Galeton Elementary School. "I drive that road and it makes my heart hurt."
The school was right on the edge of the evacuation zone.
"I was called on a Sunday evening to let us know what had happened," Hielscher said. "My superintendent called and just said that we would not be able to go to school on Monday. Well, then things just kind of escalated, and we ended up being out of school for the whole week, and then we were told we would not be able to return the next week because of safety issues and Chevron wanted to make sure everything was safe here. So we were able to go into Benjamin Eaton Elementary in town. They opened their school for us, and it was good, but it was a little rough."
Galeton Elementary School was one of the first to go through the extensive cleaning process facilitated by Chevron.
"I bet there was 300 people out here, which is a lot for our little school," Hielscher said. "They actually took all our pea gravel out where our playground is. They took it completely out. They took a lot of soil samples. They brought in new pea gravel. They wiped down all of our equipment. We even had new sod. We had some new sod put in to replace."
Crews also deep-cleaned the inside of the building.
"They moved all of our stuff out of a classroom, went in, cleaned the walls, the ceiling, everything, shampooed, cleaned all the desks and stuff, and then put it back in," she said. "So, it was pretty extensive."
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While students are allowed to return to school, Hielscher said a few of her students have not been able to return to their homes.
"We have some kids that actually live on in some of those houses that have been displaced," she said. "Chevron has taken care of them, put them up, but they're not in their house still."
Kristin Kemp, the community relations manager for the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission, said the commission requires a "no detect" standard of the fluids that fell onto private properties in the incident.
"The role as a state regulator is to enforce remediation in cleanup standards. Chevron is responsible for doing the cleanup, and we will hold them accountable to those remediation standards. It means that Chevron produced a work plan of how they will go about meeting our protective standards, and we have now approved that work plan and said most simply, they have to clean up, test, and until the test results meet our standards, cleanup continues," Kemp said. "It's a cycle until cleanup meets our protective standards. In this instance, because it was quite unprecedented — fluids landed on private property, homes, cars — and so, depending on the surface, we set the standard for what remediation looks like. For the properties, the private homes, we have set a no detect standard."
"It could even be potentially scraping grasses or materials and replacing those materials, whatever it takes to get to a no detect standard with test results. And then folks can choose to, if they want, contact Weld County Public Health and Environment and have those test results validated, as well," Kemp added.
Denver7 reached out to Chevron for an update. A spokesperson provided the following statement:
Our priority remains getting those residents who have relocated back into their homes. We continue to make good progress in conducting assessments of both homes and properties and have multiple home cleanings in progress. Out of the 14 relocated households within a half mile of the incident, we had four final walk throughs the week of May 12, and several more this week. Most residents will be able to return to their home within a matter of days or weeks once the process is complete.
Our cleaning process includes the use of a water and degreasing agent combination that is comprised of natural ingredients and is biodegradable. We are also using a mixture of Dawn detergent and water on vegetation. All liquids from the cleaning process are collected for disposal.
While the timing of home cleanings varies depending on the scope of work, most residents will be able to return to their home within a matter of days or weeks once the process is complete.
Chevron has been working individually with all impacted property owners and tenants, providing specialized teams that are available in person throughout the week to help answer questions and concerns. Recognizing that each property requires a separate plan, we have assigned case managers to residents to help personalize and customize our approach.
Chevron has and continues to reimburse relocated residents with accommodations and living expenses.
Denver7 asked if Chevron knew when the cleanup would be officially complete. The spokesperson said, "As part of the ECMC remediation and reclamation process, Chevron is required to provide an estimated date of completion. We provided a conservative estimate given that the sampling and plan development is still ongoing. The exact timeline of the remediation, monitoring, and reclamation steps for each site will be updated as we get additional data and finalize plans."
For those like Hielscher, that day can't come soon enough for the students impacted.
"This is where home is for them," she said. "It will be very exciting because we, like I said, we do have kids that aren't in their homes yet, so it will be nice when everybody can just get back to what they call normal life."
