Environment

Oil Spills - Colorado, USA

More oil spills have been found in a Colorado oil field swamped by floodwaters and regulators caution that more oil releases are likely to be found in coming days. The latest spills include 9000 litres of oil spilled from a group of storage tanks, more than 12,000 litres from an oil tank that floated away and at least two others from damaged storage tanks involving unknown volumes. That brings the known volume of oil released since massive flooding began last week along Colorado's Front Range to at least an estimated 83,000 litres. That's about 525 barrels. Unknown yet is whether any pipelines have leaked.

An aerial survey of the flood area on Thursday revealed up to two dozen overturned oil storage tanks. Releases from those tanks could not be immediately confirmed. Also unknown yet is whether any pipelines have leaked.