Nearly two years ago, a 40-year-old gasoline pipeline owned and operated by Enterprise Products ruptured on Southern Ute Indian land in La Plata County, sending tens of thousands of gallons of fuel into the ground and contaminating waterways.
While Enterprise estimates roughly 97,000 gallons of gasoline were spilled, the tribe believes the spill more likely exceeded 200,000 gallons, according to a Thursday news release from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.
Tribal leaders are frustrated with the pace of cleanup, and this week state Sen. Jessie Danielson, a candidate for secretary of state, joined the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in its continued criticism of the state’s response.
Danielson, endorsed by the Southern Ute tribe in July 2025, delivered a tribute Wednesday on the Senate floor that acknowledged the Southern Ute’s service to the state for its independent response and leadership in the cleanup effort. The tribute was signed by Senate President James Coleman and received unanimous bipartisan approval by the Senate.
Danielson called on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the attorney general to fully investigate and address the spill and criticized the state’s lackluster response to the environmental disaster.
In her tribute, Danielson expressed concern that the state has not “given the attention to this disaster as it should.”
Enterprise initially reported the size of the spill to be approximately 16,000 gallons, then revised it to 23,000 gallons just weeks later, and finally tripled it to 97,000 – or enough gasoline to drive a Toyota 4Runner around Earth’s equator 78 times, which would cost about $436,500 in today’s gas prices.
According to the tribe, CDPHE never questioned that estimate, never performed an independent analysis of the spill and never visited the site of the spill until April 2025 – five months after it occurred.
Because of what the tribe called, “prolonged under reporting and miscalculation,” Enterprise did not begin significant groundwater remediation efforts until June 2025, six months after the spill was identified.
As a consequence, the gasoline plume migrated through the groundwater, is now three-quarters of a mile south of the initial release point, has been identified within three-tenths of a mile of the Animas River, and has contaminated more than 110 acres of the drinking water aquifer.
The tribe estimated the plume is migrating about 10 feet per day. With no public water system in the area, reservation residents have lost their homes because of contamination of their drinking water wells, according to the news release. Other landowners are at risk of losing their homes as the plume migrates.
During an interview with The Durango Herald in April, CDPHE officials managing the cleanup said they were no longer detecting contamination levels in soil or groundwater that exceeded state standards in sentinel wells on the southern end of the contaminated area.
Patrick Cummins, director of environmental health and protection for CDPHE, told La Plata County commissioners in April that the state believes Enterprise is doing everything it can to clean up the spill site.
“Enterprise has, especially over the last year, worked very quickly,” he said. “… It is a very robust effort.”
So far, investigation into the cause and impact of the spill remain murky. According to the tribe, the majority of what is known is the result of independent efforts and remediation work completed by the tribe.
State officials have repeatedly said CDPHE cannot investigate the cause of the spill because the state lacks regulatory jurisdiction over pipeline safety and construction. While CDPHE oversees cleanup efforts, authority over the pipeline investigation falls to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story incorrectly said state officials are no longer detecting contamination levels in soil or groundwater. State officials are no longer detecting contamination levels in soil or groundwater that exceed state standards in sentinel wells on the southern end of the contaminated area.
