Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin Memorial Public Projects Fund
The Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin Memorial Public Projects Fund (the Martinez-Irwin Fund) was established in April 2020 to fund special projects primarily related to flowline monitoring, air emissions, and public health and safety.
The funds originate from an $18.25 million penalty against Kerr-McGee, following a tragic 2017 explosion in Firestone, CO, that killed two men — Mr. Mark Martinez and Mr. Joey Irwin. ECMC was successful in securing the maximum possible penalty, making it the largest penalty ever issued by the state agency.
ECMC’s mission is to protect public safety, health, welfare, the environment and wildlife resources and we put in place rules to hold operators accountable to our protective standards. ECMC issues a Notice of Alleged Violation (NOAV) when there is reasonable cause to believe that a violation of any Commission rule, order, or permit has occurred. The issuance of a NOAV is a legal enforcement action. Kerr-McGee, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, was found to be liable for the Firestone tragedy, in which a leaky pipeline led to the explosion of a family’s home in Firestone. The explosion killed Mr. Martinez and Mr. Irwin and left another person with severe burns.
After the tragedy, a 2019 rulemaking process led to new regulatory requirements related to the safe operation and maintenance of flowlines. From the process, new rules emerged related to transparency, documentation, and operator obligations toward abandoned flowlines.
Of the $18.25 million penalty paid by Kerr-McGee, $17.25 million was paid into a fund to support public projects intended to benefit public health, safety, and welfare. The Martinez-Irwin Fund has been put to good use and has improved ECMC’s ability to track emissions, locate flowlines, conduct inspections, and complete safety-related outreach to communities. The Fund made possible aerial surveys of the Denver-Julesburg Basin, the procurement of mobile air monitoring technology, research into methane emissions and other special projects related to the health and safety of Coloradans.
In a press release announcing the fund, then COGCC Director Jeff Robbins said “We thank Mrs. Martinez, the Commissioners and COGCC staff for their work that will ensure the state of Colorado’s oil and gas operations are conducted in a manner that is protective of the public’s health, safety, welfare, wildlife and the environment as directed by SB 19-181,” said. “Over the next few months, the COGCC will be focused on developing new rules that reflect this commitment to protect Coloradans in oil and gas operations. Also, I’m pleased to announce that COGCC will honor Mrs. Martinez’ family by naming the public projects funded by this penalty to ‘The Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin Memorial Public Projects Fund’.”
Projects funded by the Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin Memorial Public Projects Fund are detailed below.
Project Summary: Perform aerial surveys at least once per year for two years in the D-J Basin, which is part of the North Front Range ozone non-attainment area. Aerial surveys have the potential to identify and significantly reduce leaks from pipelines/flowlines, production pads, tanks, central gathering facilities, compressor stations. Identifying and resolving these leaks not only results in reduced exposure to organic compounds that can affect public health and emissions of ozone precursors, it prevents the economic waste of the product. Aerial surveys may also be expanded to other oil and gas basins in Colorado.
Cost: $2,000,000.
Project Summary: Acquire a mobile air monitoring van to measure pollutants and help determine and locate leaks. The van would be a supplement not only to CDPHE’s CAMML, but also to APCD inspectors. This mobile air monitoring van would be driven past oil and gas facilities and operations, as well as near flowlines/pipelines. As the van detects leaks, measures are taken to specifically locate the leak and promptly notify the responsible operator.
Cost: $1,595,000 plus $250,000 per year for 2 years operational expenses
About the Air Monitoring Trailers
The trailers have compact Aeroqual AQM 65 air monitoring stations mounted on cargo trailers that house and transport the batteries, solar panels, and other equipment needed for deployment to oil and gas locations. CleanAir of Pittsburgh, PA, assembled and tested the Aeroqual AQM 65 station components and associated equipment, and built out the 4 trailers. This program was designed to be easily transported, have its own power source, and provide timely and accurate information. Details on the trailers include:
They are capable of measuring total volatile organic compound (VOCs) concentrations (0 to 500 ppb VOC) using a photoionization detector (PID) module, and speciated measurement of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) using a fully integrated micro gas chromatograph (GC) module.
They are equipped with solar panels and batteries to provide a stand-alone and self contained power supply for deployment to oil and gas locations prior to construction, during drilling, or during completion and flowback operations.
Two trailers are equipped with AQS R25: Vaisala multi-sensor meteorological stations (measuring wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, barometric pressure, air temperature, and relative humidity).
One of the meteorological stations will be mounted on an aluminum 32 ft telescoping tower and the other will be mounted on a light-weight collapsible tripod tower that can be extended up to a height of 10 ft.
Two trailers are equipped with automated samplers triggered by high PID readings to allow for collection of Summa canister air samples for laboratory analysis by a 3rd party environmental laboratory.
The data gathered from these systems will be accessible in the field using a WI-FI or Ethernet to upload data to a browser on the user’s phone, tablet, or laptop, or working remotely, via the Aeroqual Cloud.
Project Summary: Currently CDPHE and COGCC use this specialized type of camera to visualize natural gas that is emitted at oil and gas facilities. These cameras can help in identifying leaks and equipment malfunctions that result in uncontrolled emissions. The cameras are nearing the end of their useful life and must be replaced. In addition there is new technology that allows the cameras to quantify (measure) the amount of gas emitted.
Cost for 9 cameras and necessary equipment: $1,100,000
Project Summary: Over the past two years, an E&E Lab Research Fellow (embedded at CDPHE) and the team of faculty and researchers at University of Chicago have been working closely with CDPHE to identify opportunities to leverage new technology and advanced analytics to improve air quality. The E&E Lab is developing machine learning models to help CDPHE improve effectiveness and efficiency of monitoring and inspections through better resource targeting. The E&E Lab is also supporting CDPHE in assessing opportunities emerging from advances in remote sensing (e.g., satellite, drone and aircraft-mounted sensors), which are poised to drastically lower the cost of emissions monitoring while improving measurement precision. The E&E Lab is working with CDPHE to create proofs-of-concept and develop policies to leverage state-of-the-art technology to help achieve emissions reductions; and to measure the impact and effectiveness of the technology-informed approach to enforcement.
Cost: $1,000,000 per year for two years
Project Summary: With additional funding, METEC will help to develop and characterize leak detection technologies for flowlines (gas migration experiments in different soil types).
Cost: $1,100,000
Project Summary: ECMC currently needs to update gas detection and metering equipment. This equipment will allow for more accurate detection and measurement of stray gas both in the soil and atmosphere.
Cost: $300,000
Project Summary: These machines are highly portable and capable of detecting small leaks in open areas, such as flowlines and pipelines. These can be used in conjunction with Optical Gas Imaging cameras to find and quantify emissions. These cameras would be deployed by COGCC flowline integrity inspectors on a regular basis.
Cost: $42,000
Project Summary: The Frederick & Firestone Fire Protection District incurred legal expenses related to the Firestone investigation and the National Transportation Safety Board process. This money would help defer those costs.
Cost: $50,000
Project Summary: Monies will be reserved to fund between 2021 and 2024 additional high priority public projects that protect public health, safety, welfare and the environment. The COGCC 2 will work with Kerr-McGee and CDPHE to identify these projects.
$8.5 million will be escrowed by Kerr-McGee for these projects.