Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, responding to this week’s explosion at a Weld County oil and gas facility that killed one worker and injured three others, vowed Friday that he will “take any necessary action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Our No. 1 priority is public safety,” Hickenlooper said in a statement.
Among those actions announced Friday is a request from state oil and gas regulators that Anadarko perform a “root cause” analysis of the accident to determine exactly what happened and why. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission rarely orders such in-depth analyses in accidents that claim workers’ lives, a Denver Post investigation last year found.
The explosion happened Thursday afternoon at a group of Anadarko oil tanks near Mead. The industry refers to such a grouping of tanks as a “battery.”
In an email Friday, Anadarko spokeswoman Helen Wells wrote that the workers were contractors — not Anadarko employees — who were combining two tank facilities into one. Wells said the upgrade was started last month and is part of the company’s emissions-control efforts. In an earlier statement, the company said the facility was not in operation at the time of the explosion, but Anadarko did not provide more information about how long it had been out of operation.
The three hurt workers were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Their conditions were not available Friday. The names of the workers, including the one who died, and the name of their employer have not been released.
The explosion happened about 4 miles north of a home that exploded in Firestone last month, the result of gas seeping from a cut underground flowline. That explosion, which left two men dead and a woman seriously injured, prompted Hickenlooper to order oil and gas companies to inspect and pressure-test all flowlines statewide within 1,000 feet of occupied buildings. On Thursday, state officials announced they had discovered new pockets of gas near houses in the same Firestone neighborhood.
But Hickenlooper on Friday said the Mead explosion was unrelated to the Firestone incidents.
“Today is about the victims and families of the Mead accident,” Hickenlooper said in his statement. “It’s a terrible tragedy, and our hearts and prayers are with them and the entire Mead community. Our state agencies are in constant contact with local authorities and have offered our full assistance and resources.”
The death is the second workplace fatality in Colorado this year, according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports. It is the first death in the oil and gas industry in the state in over a year.
At least 51 other workers have died in the state’s oil and gas fields since 2003, a Denver Post investigation last year found. When those deaths occur, an interlocking set of laws and regulations often keep companies from facing severe penalties, The Post found.
In addition to requesting the “root cause” analysis, the COGCC is investigating whether the explosion led to any spills that Anadarko must clean up. The company must also file a standard accident report with the state within 10 days.
An OSHA spokeswoman Friday confirmed that the agency is investigating the Mead explosion. That investigation could result in fines against Anadarko or others if inspectors determine there were workplace-safety violations.
The new reports and investigations add to the mounting legal work in the state for Anadarko.
The company faces at least two lawsuits over the Firestone explosion. One is a proposed class-action complaint alleging that the company misled investors about its safety practices. Another, by a family that lives near the Firestone site, alleges the company was negligent in allowing gas to seep into the neighborhood.
In a March filing with federal regulators, Anadarko disclosed that it also is facing an investigation from Colorado’s Health Department over air quality regulations.
