Wyoming sees increase in drilling-related spills in 2023. Is it a problem?

Oil and gas companies in the Mountain West report thousands of drill-related spills each year, including spills of crude oil and chemical water used in hydraulic fracking, which can result in adverse effects to land, potable water and wildlife. 

In Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, the amount of spills over time have stayed roughly steady even as the amount of oil and gas production has increased, suggesting that regulations designed to rein in spills do not inhibit production and have more or less maintained a lid on risk. 

However, a new report shows that drilling-related spills in the oil and gas sector went up significantly in Wyoming last year. The total amount of spills increased from 521 spills in 2022 to 730 spills in 2023–a 50% increase in number of incidents and a 22% increase in overall volume, amounting to 1,403,440 gallons of spilled materials, according to data analyzed by Center for Western Priorities, a Denver-based conservation think tank. 

Almost half the spills took place in Converse and Campbell Counties in Wyoming’s portion of the Powder River Basin, one of the most fossil-rich regions in the nation. Around 44% of the spills were traced to just five companies. 

The most prolific spiller was Texas-based Merit Energy Company, who reported spilling 242,871 gallons of drilling-related liquid in 2023, the most of any operator in Wyoming–and not for the first time. 

In 2019 the company settled a lawsuit related to an incident in which it released 455 barrels of crude oil into Grass Creek, a tributary of the Big Horn River. An investigation revealed that the spill was the result of non-compliance with Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure requirements of the Clean Water Act. The company paid $115,000 in a penalty settlement. 

Another major spiller was Contango Oil and Gas, which spilled 124,594 gallons of drilling material — a glaring 64% increase from the company’s 2022 spills. It’s common for spills to increase along with production, but the surge in spills far outpaced the company’s production growth for the year, which was up only 8% 2023 over 2022. 

Conservationists say it’s likely that the number of reported incidents are lower than the actual total spills. They also say that Wyoming lags behind other states in its reporting specificity. Colorado and New Mexico, for example, require operators to provide additional details including more particulars on the type of spill and its distance from nearby ground and surface water and physical buildings. New Mexico in addition requires operators to report methane flaring. 

“The bigger concern here is that when oil spills and gets into waterways it’s hard to get it out and it has immediate impacts on wildlife and beyond. That’s one reason that we would really love to see Wyoming require more reporting on the distance of spills to groundwater and surface water,” said Kate Groetzinger communications manager and report co-author. 

Industry advocates in Wyoming, however, contest the claim. Ryan McConnaughey, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, in an email told the Star-Tribune, “Wyoming has some of the strictest reporting requirements in the nation when it comes to industry related spills — requiring companies to report any liquids spilled on site. ...While accidents do happen, overall companies operating in Wyoming take pride in striving to prevent them.” 

McConnaughey’s point is backed by statistics showing that in Wyoming the amount of industry spills by volume has gone down since 2017 even as annual oil production has stayed roughly steady and some years even ticked up. 

Tom Kropatsch, supervisor with the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation commission told the Star-Tribune that regional differences and operating environments can impact spill outcomes, and that data alone is often misleading. He offered the example of extreme cold weather in parts of the state during the 2022/2023 winter, which can increase the likelihood of spills. 

Other Mountain West states 

The highest number of drill-related spills in the Mountain West happen in New Mexico. Although, it tracks with the state’s high production volume, and the amount of oil and drilling-related materials reported spilled in New Mexico actually decreased by 23% in 2023 even as oil production increased by 15%. 

The data shows a more troubling picture of the state’s venting and flaring, the process in which natural gas is released into the atmosphere as a way to maintain safe pipeline pressure. Operators in New Mexico produced 15% more natural gas in 2023 than the previous year, yet the total volume of vented and flared methane was up 27%, resulting in billions of cubic feet of natural gas into the atmosphere. 

This comes despite a recent slew of new state laws designed to prevent excess flaring, showing that the state’s enforcement is behind its own regulation, CWP says. 

“The sheer volume of reported methane waste in New Mexico shows just how much the state is contributing to the global climate crisis while wasting a resource that could be used to lower energy costs for consumers,” authors of the CWP report explain. 

Colorado was the Mountain West state with the most impressive spill record in 2023. The amount of oil and drilling-related materials reported spilled in Colorado decreased by 30 percent from 2022 to 2023, and the number of incidents reported fell by 8% from 453 to 414. 

As the longer pattern appears to be moving in the right direction, the Center for Western Priorities report raises questions about the practices of Wyoming’s largest operators, and it remains to be seen if the 2023 uptick in spills is a one-off surge or part of a new trend.