ECMC environmental unit: 2,323 spills in 2025 lead to 2,704 remediation projects; drones expand inspections

Killian Collins, Northeast Area EPS for the Energy and Carbon Management Commission’s environmental unit, told commissioners the unit opened 2,704 new remediation projects after 2,323 spills and releases were reported statewide in 2025.

Collins said roughly 1,986 of those releases were historical discoveries from decommissioning work, and 337 were recent releases from active facilities. “In 2025, there were 2,323 spills and releases reported statewide with 337 being releases from an active facility and 1,986 being historical releases discovered during facility decommissioning,” Collins said. He added the work generated 2,704 new remediation projects and allowed staff to close 711 remediation projects in 2025.

Why it matters: the torrent of remediation work is driven by facility decommissioning and new reporting requirements implemented since the 2021 rule change that expanded site investigation obligations. Collins said those rules require operators to submit work and remedial plans and to demonstrate sites meet table 9‑15‑1 groundwater standards before closure, which increased discovery of historical releases.

Collins outlined additional statistics that illustrate the workload: the state’s active well inventory fell to about 45,375 after approximately 1,400 wells were plugged and abandoned in 2025, with roughly 1,300 of those in Weld County; the environmental unit currently has about 5,225 forms in process (178 initial form 207s and 5,047 supplemental form 207s), 370 open spills and roughly 2,438 form 19 submittals under review.

Kyle Wagner, Eastern Environmental Supervisor, introduced Collins and praised the unit’s technical work. Wagner said staff have prioritized data integrity by developing a process with local laboratories to deliver locked lab reports and by cross‑referencing historical site data with GIS tools. “This prevents any potential tampering of the data. So we’re a 100% certain that we’re getting accurate and true data for each site,” Collins said.

Reclamation and inspections: Collins said the reclamation team completed roughly 6,500 combined final and interim reclamation inspections in 2025 (about 4,450 final and 1,500 interim), and that 550 of the final inspections were completed via drone. The unit added three full‑time employees to the reclamation team and hosted an operator QA and drone training with more than 60 attendees.

Produced water and data systems: Collins summarized implementation of new produced‑water rules enacted April 25 and staff work to support voluntary recycling programs. The unit is introducing new reporting forms (47 and 48) for quarterly produced‑water reporting and credits, and it is rolling out WaterStar as a modern replacement for the COEMV water‑quality database to improve data access and review.

Research: Collins described a methane seepage study in the Raton Basin. Aerial surveys identified 99 potential seeps, 45 sites were accessed and 28 showed measurable methane flux; about 25% of measured seeps accounted for 88% of the total measured methane seep emissions, prompting staff to recommend continued, site‑level characterization before any reuse decisions.

Next steps: Collins closed by identifying the Bishop A‑2542 loss of containment as a significant recent response that prompted an expedited, multi‑agency sampling and analysis plan; he said a staff member will provide a more detailed update to the commission in a forthcoming meeting.

Sources: Presentation and answers to commissioners’ questions by Killian Collins and Kyle Wagner to the Energy and Carbon Management Commission on March 11, 2026.