WELD COUNTY, Colo. — State environmental officials are monitoring a situation in Johnstown after residents reported a yellowish substance shooting into the air Tuesday afternoon.
The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission said that substance came from an oil well located near Weld County Road 50. That well was abandoned and plugged in 1993. The commission said the plug failed Tuesday night.
"It is highly unusual for this to have happened," a commission spokesperson said.
The commission said the substance is wellbore fluid. In this case, they said, it’s a possible combination of oil, water and drilling mud.
Jennifer Tregoning captured the fluid spill on camera.
“All of a sudden out of the ground erupted like a geyser-looking thing," she said. "Like a volcano had just shot up and went down and it shot up again, came back down, and then it went extremely high."
Tregoning said the unusual sight lasted about 10 minutes and created a foul smell.
“You could smell a stench in the air. It had an odor to it,” Tregoning said. “My concern was that I have friends who have homes right over there, so I immediately took a video of it, and I reached out to a friend of mine.”
Tregoning said she sent the video to Michelle Babb, who lives and works near the abandoned oil well.
“It's not normal,” Babb said. “We don't always see green geysers shooting out of the ground down the road from me.”
The abandoned oil well is located on property owned by High Plains Estate. Babb said the town has had several meetings about the property because the company is planning to build homes on the land.
"That scares me for the people who are going to buy a house,” Babb said. “What if they don't know?”
When 9NEWS asked a commission spokesperson if the wellbore fluid is harmful, they couldn’t provide a clear answer except to say people should stay away. The commission said the site around the well will be remediated to be in compliance with environmental rules and regulations. Online searches show that generally, wellbore fluid can contain carcinogens, making it potentially harmful.
"ECMC has procured emergency funding and mobilized an in-transit workover rig to re-plug the well," the commission said in a statement updated Dec. 8. "The well has been stabilized and will be re-plugged the week of December 11. ECMC will continue to work to remediate the site."
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment deployed its mobile monitor lab to test the air quality near the site.
Anyone with health concerns can contact the state health department through its website or by calling 303-389-1687.
Complaints can be filed to the commission through its website or by calling 888-235-1101.
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