Anadarko Will Shut Down Well Linked To Firestone Home Explosion

Couresty of Matthew Jonas/Longmont Times-Call

The company that owns a gas well linked to a fatal home explosion in Firestone, Colorado, says it will permanently shut down that well and two others in the neighborhood.

Anadarko Petroleum announced the shut-down Wednesday in Firestone, where an April 17 explosion killed two people. Investigators blamed the explosion on unrefined, odorless natural gas from a severed 1-inch flowline. The line was thought to be out of service, but investigators say it was still connected to a well near the home.

Craig Walters, Anadarko’s vice president of Rockies operations, says 350 workers are currently out in the field performing a “25-point inspection to make sure the well, the facility and most importantly the infrastructure between those two points has not been encroached upon.”

Walters' prepared remarks from the meeting are embedded below.

• Homeowners, Lawmakers And Realtors All Wonder: Where Are Colorado’s Oil & Gas Flowlines?

Anadarko believes the three wells are safe but is shutting them down because of the "special circumstances and sensitivity surrounding this equipment."

The company says it could not comment on the accident while the federal government investigates and it will also pay for natural gas detectors for neighborhood residents.