Oil and gas operators reported more than 2,400 spills across Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico in 2025, releasing a combined 5.8 million gallons of liquid, according to the annual Western Oil and Gas Spills Report from the Center for Western Priorities.
New Mexico operators reported 1,277 liquid spills, up 13 percent from 1,133 the year before, totaling 3.56 million gallons. A single OXY USA water storage tank failure accounted for nearly half of that volume on its own. Gas releases from venting and flaring fell eight percent, but operators still wasted 9.8 billion cubic feet of gas, in a state that produced 16 percent of the nation’s crude oil in 2025. Colorado spills fell 11 percent to 338, though volume nearly doubled to 794,000 gallons. Wyoming was the only state where both spill count and volume declined, dropping to 786 spills and 1.43 million gallons.
This year, CWP also analyzed Colorado’s historical spill filings and found 6,084 records between 2016 and 2025, with annual filings jumping more than fifteen-fold since 2020, from 125 that year to 1,948 last year. These are spills that were missed by operators for years before a well was plugged. Most of these spills surfaced only when companies plugged wells or tore down old equipment. This reveals that most spills go unreported despite the state’s strong reporting requirements, and implies the actual scale of spills and leaks is much bigger than this report captures, not just for Colorado, but in all three states.
“With the Trump administration pushing even more oil and gas drilling on public lands, this problem is set to increase rather than improve,” said Kate Groetzinger, CWP communications director. “We could be building out clean energy. Instead, we’re doubling down on dirty oil and gas production.”
Why submitting a public comment still matters—and how to write a good one
On a new episode of The Landscape, Kate and Aaron talk to Nick Holshouser, a data analyst with Wandering Nature, LLC, who is analyzing the public comments coming in on the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the 2001 roadless rule in real-time at roadless.org, and Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a senior legislative representative at Earthjustice, about public comment periods under the Trump administration. We cover why you should still submit public comments (even though the Trump administration probably isn’t interested in your opinion) and how to write a comment that requires an agency response and helps build the legal record against bad agency actions.
Quick hits
Trump administration says developers, loggers can kill endangered species
Another flash flood hit the Grand Canyon, setting back recovery from a deadly flood weeks ago
Colorado agencies call for removal of Roan Plateau parcels from federal oil and gas lease sale
St. Mary’s Glacier, a Colorado landmark, has melted amid a record-hot summer
Leaked documents reveal Trump’s plan to take control of your national parks
National park rangers have a mental health problem. Could it get worse?
The roadless rule is facing repeal, experts want to be clear about wildfires and roads
Opinion: Montana mines and how we move forward
Quote of the day
Unless you’re wearing a T-shirt that says, ‘I’m here to draw the blood of endangered species,’ you’re basically off the hook.”
—Brett Hartl, Center for Biological Diversity government affairs director, Stateline
Picture This
@usinteriorSome places remind you just how vast and extraordinary this country really is.
At Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, layers of sandstone twist, fold and sweep across the landscape at White Pocket, creating a scene that hardly looks real.
Managed by @mypubliclands, this remarkable landscape is part of the millions of acres of public lands that belong to all Americans.
You may never stand in this exact spot, but images like this give all of us a chance to appreciate the incredible beauty of our country.
Photo by BLM
Featured photo: BLM truck and oil and gas infrastructure. Source: BLM Colorado