Thanks to everyone who has commented on the Colorado fracking story. There are several additional reporting lines here that didn't make it into the piece...https://nyti.ms/2xv6IYP
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I have to say, among the most compelling people I met on the reporting journey was someone who didn't even make it into the piece.
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That person is Deirde Pilch, the superintendent who oversees Bella Romero Academy and other schools.
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Superintendent Pilch opposes the fracking project that will go in just 800 feet from her students' soccer field. But she recognizes that there is not much she can do about it.
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She clasped and clenched her hands as she spoke with me. Oil and gas is a powerful force in Weld. "It is not in our best interest to pick a fight with the Weld County commissioners or with the oil and gas industry," she said. "That's not in our best interest."
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Extraction, the company developing the fracking operation behind the school, was responsible for a major fire last year that raged for hours, badly burning a worker and requiring response from at least 8 agencies.
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While the company tells me this as anomaly, I was surprised to learn that nearly five months later, it still does not know what caused the fire. State regulators have not taken any punitive action.
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As a result, school board president Roger DeWitt told me his team has had extensive conversations with local firefighters.
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Roger DeWitt: "In our conversation with the firefolk, we're saying 'How big an explosion might we be looking at? And how extensive a fire threat might this be?' Because obviously we don't just pick up a manual and find out, 'Well how big is this going to blow?'"
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End of conversation
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