Journey of the Forsaken

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Website by Lisa Bracken. (2007-2010). Journey of the Forsaken. Personal account of her family's experience with the gas drilling by Encana on and around their land in Colorado.

"Walk for two years with the forsaken and embark on a journey with my family as we track, via web entries and posted photos/video, the development of 60 new natural gas wells within an approximate mile radius of our home. Currently, there are eleven in production.

This region is a  former “moratorium” area created as the result of a toxic leak into Divide Creek which occurred – and continues to be mitigated - in early 2004. The leak was found by the state of Colorado to have been caused by an improperly drilled well which was located approximately a quarter mile from our home. This resulted in an estimated (and acknowledged) 115 million cubic feet of natural gas saturating the sub and surface environment and led to the largest fine issued by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in Colorado's history. The well, which was the focus of that investigation, was the one shut in when this website began tracking developments - 9 new wells are to be drilled successively on this site.

Can industry be blamed for proceeding with 60 wells in this area - uniquely prone to geologic disturbance? Hardly. Industry operates to turn a profit - and, without moral discretion, can be expected to stop at nothing within allowable bounds to achieve it. Allowable bounds. This is what we must consider. To what limits should industry be allowed to pollute, endanger and destroy for the benefit of profit? Though America benefits from the new economy of catastrophe and environmental degradation, how readily can we recover precious lost resources of air, water, land and a functioning food chain... all of which are necessary to healthy, bio-diverse populations and sustainable contiguous habitat. Simply because we can do something, doesn't mean we should. But today we grapple and hope to survive what is allowed.

Prudence in the permitting process has failed the people, once again."

See also: Lisa Bracken. "fracpage". (2007-2009).  Video: EnCana Buries Hydraulic Fracturing Pit Sludge in Unlined Pit May 14, 2009.