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Weld County Benzene Exposure Jackie Sedley
Weld County Benzene Exposure
Dangerous levels of the carcinogen Benzene have been found in the area around a Weld County oil well blowout.
A team from Colorado State University (CSU) identified Benzene and dozens of other chemicals in preliminary tests, according to The Colorado Sun. A CSU professor called it a “chemical soup.”
Benzene is a known carcinogen and respiratory irritant. The CSU testing found it in concentrations that were ten times above the federal standard for chronic exposure.
The contaminants came from a Chevron Bishop oil well blowout in April. That blowout, near the town of Galeton in unincorporated Weld County, led to the evacuation of at least fourteen families, according to The Sun. It took nearly five days to secure and seal the well. Chevron said in a statement that the blowout was not related to drilling or fracking the well.
Chevron and the Colorado Department of Public Health have also been conducting air quality tests. They have not reported toxic levels as high as those found by the CSU team. The Sun said that CSU found higher levels because their team followed the pollution plume from the well. The plume and its emissions move with the wind.
Election Bills Signed
Governor Jared Polis has signed three new elections-related bills into law, two of them meant specifically to protect voting rights in Colorado.
Sponsors are calling Senate Bill 1 a state version of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. It bans election practices that create disparities in voter participation, especially for communities of color, according to Colorado Politics. It also creates protections for LGBTQ+ voters by making it illegal to keep anyone from voting based on gender expression and sexual orientation.
Another bill signed into law, House Bill 1225, is known as the Freedom from Intimidation in Elections Act. That measure outlaws intimidation and threats against voters and election officials.
The third of the three new laws is HB 1315. It addresses the vacancy election process for state lawmakers who don’t complete their terms.
The governor signed all three measures on Monday.
Colorado Among States Suing Feds Over Funding Threat
Colorado’s attorney general Phil Weiser claims the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions in transportation and disaster-relief funds from states that don’t agree with certain immigration enforcement actions.
That’s led Weiser to join 19 other Democratic attorneys general in two federal lawsuits against the administration.
According to the complaints, both the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Transportation Secretary have threatened to cut off funding to states that refuse to comply with Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda. Both lawsuits accuse the executive branch of violating the Constitution, by trying to dictate federal spending when Congress has that power.
Tricia McLaughlin with Homeland Security responded to the two lawsuits by saying that QUOTE “cities and states who break the law and prevent us from arresting criminal illegal aliens should not receive federal funding,” and that “the President has been clear on that.”
On April 24, states received letters from the Department of Transportation telling them that they risk losing funds if they don’t cooperate on immigration efforts and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
While federal funds have yet to be withheld, Weiser said in a statement that the Trump administration is trying to “strong-arm” states into assisting with federal immigration enforcement.
CU Electric Trash
The University of Colorado Boulder will soon get its first battery-electric trash truck.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) gave CU Boulder $208,500 to help fund the purchase of the truck. That covered under half of the total cost.
CDPHE was awarded the money after approving CU’s application to its Clean Fleet Vehicle and Technology grant program. The program is a state-wide process to support new fleet vehicles, vehicle conversions, and clean fleet technology.
The university signed the purchase on April 17, but the truck won’t arrive for 12 to 18 months. The truck will be the first of its kind in the CU Boulder fleet, and will replace an existing diesel trash truck. The new truck will mainly be used mainly for collecting and recycling cardboard.
CU has already been working to electrify its transportation. The university currently has four electric Buff Buses, and plans to get four more by the end of the calendar year.
Range Riders Ready
Colorado’s new Range Riders program is ready to go.
The program is a partnership between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the state Department of Agriculture, and is meant to protect livestock from wolf depredation, according to KDVR.
The riders will serve nine Colorado counties, where ranchers have been concerned about wolf depredations (DEP-reh-day-shun) since the reintroduction of gray wolves in 2023. They are fully trained, and will ride four to five days a week, recording GPS-tracked wolf routes and documenting any signs of predation.
State officials say Colorado is one of three states to organize a Range Rider program. The other states are Washington and Arizona.
