Colorado tribe calls out state, petroleum company for pipeline spill

Southern Ute Indian Tribe leadership recently urged the state of Colorado and a Texas energy company to step up the monitoring and cleanup of a five-month-old fuel spill on the southwestern Colorado tribe's land.

Tribal leadership called the response by both the state and the company "inadequate." In a May 5 social media post, it criticized the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) for not sending any personnel to the area in the months since the spilled happened. It also blamed the company for what it claimed was the lack of a contingency plan in the event the spill advances through groundwater to the near Animas River.  

"We will not stand by while our ground and surface water, Tribal resources, and the health of our Tribal Members are put at risk," stated Southern Ute Chairman Melvin J. Baker in the post. "Enterprise must treat this with the seriousness and urgency it deserves—not just from a regulatory standpoint, but from a moral and environmental one. Failure to move now will impact our water rights, wildlife, cultural sites, and properties for years to come. It is our duty as leaders and original stewards to protect the land that has been home to our ancestors since time immemorial and will be home for our future generations to come."  

The spill occurred on Dec. 5. Beginning on that day, a spill at an Enterprise Products pipeline near the intersection of La Plata County Road 219 and Riverview Ranch Road (about four miles south of Durango) was reported by an unidentified person at 4:50 p.m. The pipeline was clamped and leak stopped at 3:40 p.m. on Dec. 7, according to an early CDPHE report. 

An estimated 544 barrels, or 23,000 gallons, of fuel was released.

Three days after the first report of the leak, a groundwater measurement taken 275 feet south-southwest of the leak site detected concentrations of benzene, tuloene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes at 13 micrograms per liter. 

Four days later, the same test well measured 300 micrograms per liter. 

Pond water at a nearby property also detected those four elements, plus acetone and styrene. But, according to that early CDPHE report about that pond, "None of the concentrations exceed their most protective EPA or CDPHE water standard."

In the months since, however, a dozen residences have had high contamination readings in the their water wells. Water must now be hauled in, according to the tribe, and stored in cisterns installed by Enterprise Products. Filtration systems are also being provided.

The contamination has now migrated away from the leak site. The tribe - which is doing its own monitoring beyond the several monitoring wells drilled by a remediation team hired by the energy company - said a spring within .3 mile of the Animas River is now showing increased measurements of benzene.

"If the spill were to reach the nearby Animas River in elevated concentrations, the danger to plant, animal, and human life in the local area and potentially downstream along the river could be widespread," the tribe stated on its social post. "Despite this, Enterprise still does not have a site-specific contingency plan in place to protect the Animas River."

According to CDPHE documents, Enterprise Products is required to publicly post monthly bulletins about the spill's monitoring data, submit quarterly reports to the CDPHE, and provide a contingency plan to the state for dealing with contamination reaching the Animas River. That deadline for that contingency plan was April 30. 

Leaders of the Southern Ute Tribe learned of the contingency plan's delay during a meeting the next day. 

"[T]he response from Enterprise has lacked the urgency and transparency this situation demands to minimize impacts and risk to the Animas River and Tribal resources," the tribe stated. 

The Southern Ute social media post claimed the recent spill to be Colorado largest ever. But the CDPHE told CBS Colorado the spill is the sixth-largest petroleum-based release it has dealt with. Through a spokesperson, the agency said it is committed to requiring Enterprise Products to fully investigate and clean up the spill. This includes remediation of all contaminated groundwater and soils until state and federal environmental standards are met.

CDPHE indicated additional work is starting this week with new wells. Some will be installed downhill from the current lowest sites to fully define the extent of the contamination. Others, called sentinel wells, will form a line between the leak site and the Animas River. Aside from contaminant detection, the sentinel wells will be able to pull up and recover petroleum product and perform other cleanup functions, per CDPHE. 

In a statement, Patrick Cummins, Director of Environmental Health and Protection, said, "At CDPHE, we are committed to protecting public health, holding polluters accountable, and partnering with impacted communities and governments. We take the Southern Ute Indian Tribe's concerns seriously and are providing ongoing oversight of the cleanup. That oversight will continue until Enterprise Products meets all applicable environmental standards and affected residents are protected." 

Enterprise Products is based in Houston. The company announced upgrades and retrofits of existing pipelines in its Texas Western system in March 2024. The TW system pushes gasoline from its Galveston refinery to Grand County, Utah. Along the way are four terminals - two in New Mexico, one in Grand Junction, another in Moab, Utah - that allow fuel tanker trucks to draw and haul locally. 

The second phase of the system, the Grand Junction and Moab terminals, went online in late October - five weeks before the spill near Durango. 

The spill did not occur within the Southern Ute reservation's boundaries, but on adjacent property called "fee land." Tribal fee land can exist inside and outside of reservation boundaries, is zoned by the tribe, and is often owned by Native Americans and non-natives who depend on the reservation and tribal government for services. Fee land differs from trust land, which is distinctly owned by Native Americans and their families within reservation boundaries.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe was awarded $4.9 million in September 2024 by the EPA for implementation of a program to reduce emissions of methane and other harmful air pollutants from oil and gas sources located on its reservation. In January, it received $4.25 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, money which the tribe tagged for improving drinking water quality, water storage, and irrigation infrastructure.