FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2025
Contact:
Caitt Maeve, caitt@corising.org, 720-499-4224
Christiaan van Woudenberg, christiaan@ecocarto.com, 720-263-6434
Colorado Rising for Communities Launches “Spilling The Truth” Campaign
Mailers bring oil and gas spill data straight to Weld County residents.
UPDATE: Since our initial reporting of a record 189 spills for April 2025, additional spill reports have been filed with the ECMC to bring the total to an unimaginable 229 spills.
Weld County, CO — On May 19th, Colorado Rising for Communities (CORFC) launched Spilling The Truth, a first-of-its-kind public alert system designed to inform residents in Weld County about the alarmingly high number of oil and gas spills occurring near their homes. Each month, residents will receive postcards in the mail summarizing the number of spills reported to the Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) in their neighborhoods.
In April 2025 alone, Weld County recorded a staggering 229 oil and gas spills—more than six per day—marking yet another record-breaking month. With no public alert system in place, most residents remain unaware of the risks and exposure they face daily.
“How many more spills go undiscovered or unreported?” asks Caitt Maeve, Executive Director of Colorado Rising for Communities. “Oil and gas spills aren’t slowing down—they’re getting worse. And while regulators look the other way, communities are stuck with the impacts. Enough is enough.”
The Spilling The Truth campaign uses data obtained directly from the ECMC, which CORFC has carefully analyzed, organized, and summarized by neighborhood. Colorado Rising for Communities is proud to deliver the entire campaign content in both English and Spanish, from the printed materials to the website and calls to action. The campaign is initially targeting the most heavily impacted communities based on spill frequency, to ensure those facing the highest risks are informed first.
The first alerts, mailed to households in Greeley, Fort Lupton, Kersey, La Salle, and Platteville, tally a combined total of 884 spills in the last 12 months alone. Information regarding each spill is difficult to locate on the ECMC’s website, making it a challenge for residents to know where to look, or how to find, more details on the exposure risks to spills that happen nearby.
In addition to mailed alerts, CORFC will share data highlights and campaign updates across its social media platforms to expand awareness, tighten regulatory controls, and push for increased industry accountability.
“This campaign is unique; we’re using a data-driven approach to deliver personalized information to the communities most impacted by oil spills in Colorado,” said Christiaan van Woudenberg, Principal Data Analyst for EcoCarto, the firm working with Colorado Rising for Communities on this campaign. “Technically, the data are available on the ECMC website, but it’s impossible to see the full impact of oil and gas infrastructure, operations, and spills near homes. We aim to change that by bringing this problem to light.”
For more information, visit www.corfc.org/spills or follow @coloradorising on social media.
Colorado Rising for Communities is a 501(c)3 grassroots organization powering a statewide movement to protect our health, safety, quality of life and the future of our climate from the harms and impacts of oil and gas operations.