Ryan Maye Handy

The Coloradoan

A storage tank damaged by recent flooding has dumped 7,500 gallons of crude oil into the Poudre River near Windsor, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission reported late Friday afternoon.

There appears to be no drinking water affected by the spill, although the oil has stained vegetation as far as a quarter of a mile away from the damaged tank, COGCC spokesman Todd Hartman said.

The spill is east of Weld County Road 23, just north of the Poudre River near the Poudre River Trail.

The tank’s operator, Noble Energy, discovered the spill Tuesday afternoon and later reported it to the COGCC, the state’s regulatory agency for the oil and gas industry. Recent high river flows undercut the bank where the storage tank was sitting, causing the tank to drop and breaking a valve. About 178 barrels of oil dumped into the river.

The well near the tank has been shut in, and a second tank in the area appears to be unaffected, Hartman said in a news release.

COGCC and water quality experts from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment were at the scene of the tank spill, where clean-up efforts were underway Friday. Clean-up crews are working to absorb the spilled oil and a vac-truck is removing oil-filled standing water from a low-lying area around the tank.