In light of the BP oil spill, The Denver Post ran an article yesterday reporting on oil spills in the state of Colorado. Natural gas and oil exploration and extraction are major industries, especially on the state’s Western Slope (the region on the western side of the Continental Divide). Here are some of the intriguing facts and figures from their piece.

• 981 – Fluid spills from oil and gas drilling in Colorado between January 1, 2008, and June 15, 2010
• 707 – spills that that had no impact on bodies of water (182 affected groundwater, 82 impacted surface water, and the remaining 10 spills affected both ground and surface water)
• 538 – spills due to equipment failure 5.2 million gallons of drilling liquids oil
• $650,000 for two fines
• $700 million in revenue generated for local and state governments (from the oil and natural gas industries)

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