"Natural-gas liquid is gushing near a Colorado creek, and nobody can figure out how to stop it" [View all]

[limpyhobbler]

An unidentified “liquid natural-gas product” is flowing freely into the shallow ground near a creekside gas processing plant in rural western Colorado. After 11 days of cleanup operations and investigations, the source and precise contents of the toxic spill remain a mystery.

Officials at Williams Energy, the presumed culprit in the spill, have not been able to locate the source of the leak, so they have been unable to staunch the flow of underground pollution that is threatening to contaminate Parachute Creek.

More than 60,000 gallons of hydrocarbon gunk have so far been sucked up using vacuum-equipped trucks. The underground pollution plume is believed to have grown to at least 200 feet by 170 feet and is at least 14 feet deep.

The town of Parachute, Colo., home to roughly 1,000 people, closed a headgate that’s used to divert creek water into a drinking water reservoir. That step was a precaution in case the waterway becomes contaminated.
...

from http://grist.org/news/natural-gas-liquid-is-gushing-near-a-colorado-creek-and-nobody-can-figure-out-how-to-stop-the-leak/