Update: Tanker rolls, spills fracking water in Poudre Canyon

Jacy Marmaduke | The Coloradoan

A tanker carrying fracking water rolled over in the Poudre Canyon on Thursday night, crushing a fence and triggering hazardous waste response, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

The crash occurred about 11 p.m. in the Poudre Park area, about a mile up the canyon from the Grey Rock trailhead. It's not yet clear how much fracking water was spilled or whether the spill reached the Poudre River.

Fracking water is also known as produced water, or water that emerges from oil and gas wells during the fracking process, said Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission spokesman Todd Hartman.

The truck driver, 35-year-old Oswaldo Valenzuela-Inzunza of Mexico, was uninjured, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Gary Cutler said. Information about whether he was cited in the crash was not available Friday afternoon.

Homeowner Robert Breckenridge told the Coloradoan he heard the truck crash into his fence and saw a steaming black liquid flowing from the truck into the road.

"The oily stuff was running out like a river," Breckenridge said. "It was coming out of the truck like crazy."

Larimer County's hazardous waste team and contractor Custom Environmental Services managed the spill clean-up, Cutler said.

Breckenridge said he learned the truck was headed down the canyon from Walden to an oil and gas processing facility in the Fort Collins area. He said emergency responders told him the spill didn't reach the river. CSP reports didn't include information on the extent of the spill or the name of the truck company.

The Coloradoan is working to verify the company involved in the spill and the amount of fracking water released in the road.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment hadn't received any reports about the spill as of Friday afternoon. The operator will have to report the spill to the COGCC, Hartman said, but that report wasn't available as of Friday evening.

Correction: Due to a source error, the original article misstated the COGCC reporting requirements for the spill.