Galeton Elementary School is expected to reopen next week, and about a dozen residents will return to their homes on a case-by-case basis following the release of oil, gas and water from a well earlier this month.
On April 6, the Bishop Well incident resulted in the evacuation of 12 people and closed an Eaton School District elementary building all through last week. The well belongs to Chevron Corporation and is located south of Weld County Road 74 near Galeton.
Operations at the well moved into the recovery and investigation phase this week, according to Weld County. A unified command team demobilized, and state and federal agencies will contribute to the recovery and investigation while providing information to the public, according to weld.gov.
Crews cleaned the exterior and interior of Galeton Elementary School this week, and arrangements are being made for exterior cleaning on the impacted homes.
Peter Graham with the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment said late Thursday morning that 99% of the cleaning is complete at Galeton Elementary School. A walk-through was planned for later in the day to evaluate the condition of the building. Graham expects the school district to then take control of the building.
If this happens, Eaton School District Superintendent Jay Tapia said Galeton Elementary would reopen for classes Tuesday. Eaton School District students do not have school Monday because of a professional development day.
The 142 Galeton Elementary students and staff spent this week at Benjamin Eaton Elementary School in Eaton.
Graham said Chevron is working with homeowners on a clean-up plan.
“Each home is a little different,” Graham said. “We’re trying to get them in as soon as possible.”
Graham said a meeting with homeowners, Chevron and regulatory agencies was scheduled for Tuesday evening to start the process of cleaning and air quality testing.
“Some of what we have to do is get affirmation to be on the property and then the clearing itself, which could take a day,” Graham said.
In an emailed statement from a Chevron corporate affairs manager, the company said subject matter experts are regularly meeting with impacted residents to answer questions and provide support. The company also started a website to provide information and resources to people impacted by the release: colorado.chevron.com/bishop-well-incident.
“We are working as quickly and safely as possible to return residents to their homes,” according to the statement from Trudi Boyd, corporate affairs manager for Chevron Rocky Mountains Business Unit. “The impact to each property varies, so it’s difficult to forecast when cleaning will be complete at all of the houses.”
The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which regulates oil and gas operations, reported the designed well barriers failed, causing a loss of control over the pressure in the wellbore — the hole that allows for access to oil, gas or water.
The commission said the loss of pressure led to an uncontrolled flow of fluids known as a blowout, in which water, oil and gas was discharged from the well.
The commission referred to the incident as a spill and said Chevron is required to investigate the incident and clean up any impacts. The commission will oversee Chevron and contractors and consults, collect samples to document the environment remediation, ensure the clean-up meets applicable standards and coordinate with state and county departments of public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies.
The Chevron website said it’s too soon to pinpoint the exact cause of the well release, adding the company is conducting an investigation.
“Based on the limited information available now, it appears that during routine operations, a failure of surface equipment resulted in the release of water, oil, and gas,” the website says.
Galeton Elementary closed last week out of an abundance of caution, according to officials from a variety of agencies and organizations with the unified command.
The school is located outside of the one-half mile exclusion zone, which is the area around the well where any potential exposure to hazardous substances is highest, the EPA said.
“The rationale was the wind,” Tapia said. “If the wind shifted, it would’ve changed everything (with more evacuations), so it was done out of an abundance of caution.”
Graham said they heard of concerns of overspray reaching the school from liquids released following the well malfunction. Graham added he hasn’t seen any evidence of overspray. All air monitoring test readings have indicated any potential contaminants are below the levels that call for action, Graham said.
“As a precaution, we wanted to clean the school for the kids and staff,” Graham said. “As a public health employee, it’s my job to provide the best service to the community.”
Belfor, a property restoration company, is handling cleaning the school.
Officials will conduct air quality tests following the cleaning, Graham said. Approval for the district to reoccupy the school should come later this week. Tapia said if the district receives approval to return to Galeton Elementary, the move will take place after school Friday.
Tapia said Galeton teachers last weekend packed up materials for students to move to Benjamin Eaton Elementary this week. Tapia said the teachers moved computers and curriculum materials to Benjamin Eaton. No furniture was moved to the school.
“They were plug and play,” Tapia said of Benjamin Eaton Elementary. “The building was set up and ready to go, ready with monitors and whiteboards.”
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