Environmental Emergency Declared At Windsor Drilling Rig

Living in this area we've all learned to deal with the unsightly oil drilling rigs, the natural gas rigs and the fracking rigs. If you're like me you hope that "they" know what they're doing and the drilling they do won't cause any problems.

So, news like this is always a little unnerving. According to CBS5 Colorado oil and gas regulators have declared an environmental emergency at a drilling rig in Windsor.

The rig in question is owned by Greeley-based Ranchers Exploration and is located just west of the River West subdivision in Windsor. Right above the Poudre River. According to a report from the Coloradoan, the oil rig came down yesterday afternoon to be moved.

The oil company called out by state oil and gas regulators as creating a public health hazard in Windsor has taken down its drilling rig and plans to move it away from the site of an old landfill.

Sounds like a great plan right? Well, a little further in the story you find that,

The company plans to move the drilling rig to another site on the same property but away from the old landfill, and it could be about a month before drilling begins again.

So, let me get this straight. Oil officials declared an environmental disaster and this 'disaster' will be averted by moving a drilling rig a few hundred feet?

I feel like there more going on here than most of us know about.

Check out the video from CBS5 below.

Do you think there needs to be more regulations on the drilling in Weld and Larimer counties?

[CBS5]

[Coloradoan]

Picture by katsrcool, Flickr.