Enterprise Products – which owns and operates a pipeline that ruptured and spilled 92,000-gallons of gasoline south of Durango – is advancing plans to replace 18.5 miles of pipeline in La Plata County.
The leak, which occurred in December 2024, displaced several households in a small subdivision on the Florida Mesa and the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. The rupture occurred near County Road 219, just west of where it crosses U.S. Highway 550, about 2 miles south of city limits.
More than a year later, questions remain about both the cause of the rupture and the condition of the pipeline system. Unanswered questions and recent developments have resulted in harsh criticism from La Plata County commissioners over what they see as an effort to avoid public scrutiny.
“I feel that Enterprise has been flying under the radar,” Commissioner Matt Salka said last week during a meeting with state representatives, where he criticized the company’s abrupt cancellation of a planned tour of the cleanup site.
Had three commissioners attended, the tour would have constituted a public meeting and been open to the public and media. Salka said he believes the company canceled the tour to avoid potential media coverage.
“They’ve been doing really well about not using their PIO officer,” he said.
Commission Chair Marsha Porter-Norton said state representatives later told her they would be open to a press tour but had been caught off guard by the logistics of the visit.
Enterprise shared a similar rationale when asked for comment for this story.
“Enterprise received very little notice of the tour, with no clear indication of the scope of the meeting or who would be attending,” company spokesperson Rick Rainey said in a written response. “This is a large, active industrial cleanup site that requires careful planning to ensure the safety of those on-site and making sure the appropriate individuals are present to facilitate and answer questions.”
The company now plans to replace 18.5 miles of the 83 miles of pipeline running through the county, according to company documents describing the “Mid-American Pipeline Replacement Project.” The existing pipeline dates back to the 1980s, although repairs were made from 2022 to 2024 to enable it to carry refined products, according to Enterprise’s filing with Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Enterprise did not directly answer questions as to why a large replace project is needed and why some of the partial repairs completed after the spill were insufficient. Instead, the company said the 18.5-mile segment was what parties agreed was “appropriate” at and that it would “continue to monitor and evaluate the rest of the pipe.”
Rainey said discussions about the replacement have been underway for several months and that the project remains in the early stages, with a projected completion date of late 2027.
County officials said they were caught off guard by the size of the project and the way it has been communicated.
Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick said she supports the replacement but is concerned with the lack of public engagement on the part of Enterprise.
“That’s good,” she said of the project. “But not having the community discussion – that’s what’s concerning.”
Enterprise said it initiated contact with parties who may be affected by the project. The new pipeline, which will be built to carry refined gasoline, will mostly follow the existing pipeline right-of-way, Rainey said.
In areas where it diverges from the current route, the company said it will negotiate with property owners in a “fair and respectful manner to reach an agreement for use of their property.”
When asked about the project, Patrick Cummins, a representative with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said he was unaware of the planned replacement.
He said part of that is because the state does not have regulatory jurisdiction over pipeline safety and construction. While CDPHE oversees cleanup efforts, it does not have authority over the pipeline investigation itself. That responsibility falls to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
This has made it difficult for county commissioners to receive satisfactory answers related to the cause of the pipeline rupture and the condition of the broader system.
What that investigation looks like, or even if it is active, remains murky.
CDPHE staff believes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is conducting an investigation, but is unable to confirm if that is the case.
Public records maintained by the federal agency do not list the La Plata County spill, and Cummins said state officials have not received clear updates. Even an Environmental Protection Agency attorney involved in compliance discussions could not confirm whether an accident investigation was in progress, he said.
“I think we need some more formal outreach to them to get an answer to this very question,” he said.
To the best of CDPHE’s knowledge it is the largest gasoline pipeline spill in the state since 2016.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Enterprise has continued to expand its footprint near the spill site.
Since Niente LLC, an Enterprise subsidiary, was reported in November to have purchased five properties in the affected area, the company has acquired four additional parcels along County Road 219, Riverview Ranch Road and Diamond Drive, south of Farmington Hill on Florida Mesa.
The most recent purchase, finalized in April, was for nearly $1 million, according to property purchase records. In total, the company now owns nearly 30 acres in the area.
Enterprise declined to “speculate” about whether it will seek to acquire additional properties.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
