Dear Action Line: I am wondering what that horrible smell is as you drive past state Highway 3 and South Camino del Rio that’s popped up in the last few weeks? – Chloe Z. Winders
Dear Chloe: That, my friend, is the bad gas.
Seriously. But it’s not bad gas emanating from humans, such as your passengers. In this case, if you roll up the windows, the smell should be a tad more tolerable.
The smell is a product of geology, and it’s been plaguing this area for a long time. The Fruitland formation, which contains sandstone, shale and coal, was laid down about 70 million years ago – back when this was a marshy delta region. Surely you remember.
A coal seam in this formation comes to the surface at this spot near Carbon Junction. Where it reaches the surface is known as the coal “outcrop,” seen in the black dirt here. Within this coal seam is methane gas, which is why all those hundreds of wells have been placed to the south, where the coal seam is farther underground and the methane can be captured.
That’s enough geology, can we agree?
The coalbed methane has proved very lucrative for drillers in Colorado and New Mexico since the 1980s. But methane is not what you’re smelling. Methane itself is odorless; it smells when it leaks from your pipes or stoves because another gas, something called tert-Butylthiol, is added to it as a safety feature. (Obviously, you want to know if there’s methane around before you, say, light a match.)
What you’re smelling in the Carbon Junction area is hydrogen sulfide, which can be produced during some industrial processes, and also, as in this case, naturally by bacterial breakdown around ground level – where the coalbed meets the surface. Hydrogen sulfide can be extremely dangerous and even lethal at high levels – for example, if trapped in a confined space.
Action Line sought out Butch Knowlton, La Plata County’s former director of the Office of Emergency Management who was involved in testing the air to make sure it was safe back in the 1990s. Knowlton retired in November 2020, but took the time last week to give some background.
At Carbon Junction, tests by Knowlton and his crew showed, there are “hot spots” near the surface, but the hydrogen sulfide gas quickly dissipates. Some people are sensitive to it, he said, and may get a headache but shouldn’t suffer dire consequences.
Because the gas is fairly heavy it can remain near the surface. In colder temperatures and under high humidity, the gas rises more slowly, Knowlton said, and thus, the smell can increase in the fall and winter. Likely, that’s why it was noticed recently.
The smell has been around for a long time (millions of years), and will continue to be around. Some local domestic water wells have this smell, Knowlton noted, particularly those close to the outcrop, which runs more or less in a long east-to-west arc over Archuleta and La Plata counties.
Whether the smell has worsened because of the increased drilling in the 1990s is another question being debated. Former County Commissioner Josh Joswick was active in helping residents protect themselves from consequences of drilling, and believes this was indeed the case. Drillers decreased the underground pressure, allowing methane to be released from the coal, by pumping water out of the formation. The effects this caused are still being studied. And now we’ve reached the end of Action Line’s deep dive into smelly and non-smelly gases. Thanks for participating.
Dear Action Line: I recently ordered a small item from a trusted internet merchant to be shipped to me in Durango. My billing statement included $0.27 for “Colorado delivery fee,” in addition to shipping charges. Is this a state-mandated fee? (Note: plastic or paper bags were not part of the order.) – Richard H. Ruth
Dear Richard: While you’ve been busy placing online orders, your state Legislature has been creating new fees for you to pay.
Back in 2021, the Legislature created the “Retail Delivery Fee.” This fee went into effect on July 1, 2022. Action Line is certain this was done to make us pay more for online orders, and to give tax accountants more headaches. The former is actually fine, assuming it helps our small, local businesses.
But is 27 cents enough? That’s just per order, not per item. So if you place one order with, say, two or three items, and it takes two or three vehicle trips to deliver your order, you still pay just 27 cents.
Revenue from the fee goes toward a bunch of (six, to be exact) state efforts, such as “community access,” “clean fleet,” and “bridge and tunnel.” Action Line always cleans the fleet before stepping into the house, and you should too.
On a webpage that explains the breakdown of the fees, the Colorado Department of Revenue says that the “Clean Fleet” fee – 5.3 cents of the 27 cents – goes toward “the business purpose of incentivizing and supporting the use of electric motor vehicles and other clean fleet technologies by owners and operators of motor vehicle fleets.”
Dan Carr, communications supervisor with the Colorado Department of Revenue, said the fee applies for anything delivered by vehicle, and added this interesting addendum:
“We may have to make a rule if deliveries start happening by drone in the future.”
This state Department of Revenue website explains more, much more than Action Line cares to get into: tax.colorado.gov/retail-delivery-fee.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Yes, that’s the La Plata County Humane Society in the photo foreground. No animals were harmed in the creation of this Action Line, who has now adopted two lovable dogs from here.
