Williams Production under investigation for contamination of a spring

Williams Production is under investigation in Colorado for their method of storing and containing the chemicals and production water at some well sites in Garfield County. The investigation showed that the contamination was coming from the area where Williams has some wells and eliminated other gas companies as the source.

A man became violently ill, needing hospital care after drinking from a contaminated spring. Found in the spring was benzene, a carcinogen associated with gas drilling!

http://www.postindependent.com/article/20090906/VALLEYNEWS/909059998/1083&ParentProfile=1074

Here are a few paragraphs from a recent article.
A state agency has let several gas exploration companies off the hook concerning the contamination — which put one man in the hospital with a burning throat and other symptoms — of a spring in western Garfield County last year.

Prather filed a complaint with the COGCC in 2008 after he visited his hunting cabin in late May, drank out of the nearby spring, and became so ill he had to be taken to a hospital.

The gas companies all have drilling operations in the vicinity, and all were slapped with “notices of alleged violation” or NOAVs, of the COGCC rules governing oil and gas drilling operations in Colorado.

But according to documents on the COGCC website, all the companies except Williams were granted clean bills of health after an investigation. The investigation involved taking water samples from the Prather spring, and another nearby spring, and written accounts from the companies describing their methods of storing and containing the chemicals and “production water” used in and generated by the drilling activities.

Among the “volatile organic compounds” discovered in the Prather springs, according to the COGCC, was benzene, a known carcinogen that is associated with gas drilling activities.