new form of waxy natural gas causing problems in Colorado:

[link to www.postindependent.com]

Normally, in producing natural gas, Barrett also encounters low volumes of condensate that are like gasoline and never freeze. However, it has discovered an odd pocket of oil with natural waxes that solidifies below 70 degrees. It gums up equipment designed to remove it, then bypasses the separator systems and ends up in the pits, Zavadil said.

"It's something we haven't really seen in the Piceance Basin," he said.

The discovery will allow Barrett to produce small amounts of oil in a region where natural gas production predominates. But it also created the condensate problem, which Barrett inadvertently compounded. Zavadil said the company moves recycled water from pit to pit for use in the well fracturing process. In the process, it introduced the condensate into other pits.

Macke said the COGCC doesn't allow condensates to remain in pits more than 24 hours because it can be a threat to wildlife and groundwater.

Said Rada, "I do have concern that some of it's in the soil because I watched the soil burn."

Zavadil said that while oil and water don't mix easily, it's important to remove condensates from the surface of the pits quickly to reduce the chances of that happening. The condensates also create an odor that is exacerbated by bacteria that feed on the condensates, he said.

Dardynski said the smell has been bad in her neighborhood, and has made people sick. But she also worries about the health effects of breathing smoke from the burns.

"What they ended up burning off, we'll never know the crap that's in there. ... These guys can separate this stuff. They don't have to burn it off. It's the cheap way."

Garfield County Commissioner Trési Houpt said it sounds as if Barrett is guilty of poor planning in letting the condensates build up, and she would have rather seen the company remove them than burn them.

But she thinks it also failed to contact and educate people about why it was burning off the pits and why the practice isn't dangerous.

"People were really concerned and surprised that that occurred, and that shouldn't have happened," Houpt said.

"It's one of my greatest frustrations with the (gas drilling) activity that's going on in this county - for the most part there is very poor communication."