By Summer Begay
After nearly a year since the environmental disaster caused by Enterprise Products, LLC from a failure of its pipeline, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe extends its appreciation to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its increased authority over the remediation and waste management at the site.
The pipeline failure occurred in December 2024 has resulted in Colorado’s largest spill of its kind — an estimated 97,000 gallons of refined gasoline.
The EPA announced last week that it will fulfill its statutory responsibility and federal trust responsibilities and work with CDPHE to implement the State’s Corrective Action Plan (CAP). The Tribe, EPA, and CDPHE are jointly responding to the spill. On November 4, 2025, the Tribe expressed significant concerns with hazardous waste management, treatment, and storage related to the Enterprise remediation site to the EPA. In response to Tribal concerns, the EPA will ensure that the cleanup is performed in accordance with federal requirements and will also monitor Enterprise’s hazardous waste generator requirements, better known as Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) compliance.
Enterprise previously submitted a Treatment-by-Rule Request to CDPHE to treat hazardous waste associated with the remediation on-site. On-site hazardous waste treatment can be done in a safe and responsible manner, but there have been issues of non-compliance with applicable hazardous waste laws. The Tribe has been actively monitoring the situation and expressed concern with the request given the non-compliance.
The EPA has issued a notice of non-compliance to Enterprise regarding violations and safety concerns at the site, including hazardous waste characterization, storage and disposal. With hazardous waste stored near Reservation residents and the Animas River, continued delay puts people and the environment at unnecessary risk. The EPA, the Tribe, and CDPHE will conduct a joint inspection on December 2, 2025, to confirm if these issues have been rectified.
Although the spill occurred on fee lands within the Reservation boundary, the Tribe’s Environmental Programs Department (EPD) recognized the threat to Tribal members and the public from the onset and has been fully involved in oversight decisions with EPA, CDPHE, and Enterprise. EPD, along with support from the Tribe’s Department of Energy, attends weekly update meetings, technical discussions, comments on remedial documents submitted by Enterprise and conducts independent technical assessments to gauge the cleanup progress.
EPD’s dedication to ensuring the utmost accountability and visibility from the responsible party is part of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s commitment to the protection of our people, water and environment.
Summer Begay is Communication Specialist with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.