Colorado family files suit against pipeline company
News Channel Nebraska
by Forrest Hershberger
PEETZ, Colo. -- Rural northern Logan County is known for its wide-open spaces, farmers and ranchers whose livelihood can change in a moment, in the shift of precipitation and the wind.
There is also a part of the region many don’t know: the countless underground pipelines; some that are being reused for a different purpose. The use of some of those lines is under question by a family who lives near Peetz.
Brady and Kari Hume enjoy their acreage away from the city lights, the farm life where they can raise their children and a family business. But their evenings on the deck or in the house with the windows open are fewer with the smell of sulfur since the expansion of a facility across the county road.
“Well, for almost two years, we have been living next to a neighbor that came in very quickly. The Logan Compressor Station [for the Rockies Express Pipeline] was built 951 feet from our front door. Once it started running, we knew it was not going to be livable for both of us to stay here. It can resemble the sound of a train running continuously. But the other maintenance sounds, alarms, and blowdowns, are very loud, very disruptive even through the night,” Kari Hume said.
The family also reports dealing with uncharacteristic symptoms since the sulfur and chemical odors, noises, and low frequency vibrations began reaching their homestead. Looking into the issue, they say they found multiple studies pointing to a range of acute, long-term, and serious health concerns associated with living near compressor stations.
She said they learned that Trailblazer Pipeline, one of the two pipelines in their pasture which is around 800 feet from their home, has been repurposed from transporting natural gas to carbon dioxide….
