The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission approved an $18.25 million penalty, the largest such penalty in state history, against a company responsible for deadly 2017 home explosion in Firestone.

Two men, Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin, were killed when a flow line that was supposed to be shut down filled with gas, ruptured and exploded.

The money will go into a defined list of projects “that wouldn’t have gotten funded otherwise,” focused on detecting leaks and prevented future such accidents, including aerial surveys, emissions monitoring and high-tech equipment. The administrative order passed the regulatory commission unanimously.

Erin Martinez, the wife Mark Martinez and sister of Joey Irwin, said the family had no choice but accept the decision.

“For my family and I, today is an impossible day,” she told the commission. “How exactly are we supposed to put a dollar amount to the lives of two extraordinary men who really shouldn’t have lost their lives like this in the first place. How do we attach a number to all that we have lost.”

She said no amount of money could compensate for what she called “extreme negligence.” Though three years has passed, time has stood still for the family, she said, saying that if anything, time has only intensified the pain of losing her husband and brother. 

“No amount of money can bring them back or lessen the immense amount of pain their loss brings,” she said.

Kerr McGee, the company responsible for the line, was sold to Occidental Petroleum last year.

The company’s lawyer, Mark Matthews, expressed condolences to the family and appreciation to the first responders and community members.

“Kerr McGee remains committed to doing its part to make sure nothing like this ever happens again,” he said, citing the safety efforts the company has instituted in its operations over the past three years. 

He said the projects the money will significantly enhance regulators “to identify and significantly reduce leaks from lines and production facilities.”

“Kerr McGee knows that nothing it says or does here today can bring back what was lost in this accident, but it is our hope the extensive safety efforts that it has undertaken over the past three years and the penalty now being paid will help prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.”

The proceeds of the penalty will be called The Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin Memorial Public Projects Fund, and it includes:

• $2 million for aerial surveys of the Denver-Julesberg Basin to identify and reduce leaks.
• $2.1 million for the state health department to acquire and staff and air-monitoring van to determine and locate the source of leaks.
• $1.1 million for optical gas-imaging cameras.
• $2 million for research and development of satellite and remote sensing technology.
• $1.1 million for research and development at Colorado State’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center.
• $300,000 to update the state’s gas detection and metering equipment.
• $42,000 to acquire remote methane leak detectors.
• $50,000 to reimburse the Frederick Firestone Fire Protection District. 

The families accepted an disclosed settlement from Anadarko in 2018.

Jeff Robbins, director of the state regulatory commission, said recently passed rules on flow lines will improve safety, noting that Erin Martinez participated in creating the new standard.

The new rules were the result of Senate Bill 181, adopted by the legislature last year to better regulate oil and gas operations. 

“It’s our job at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to protect public safety, welfare and the environment,” he said. “We think the steps we took today do ensure public safety.”

He said the penalty accepted Monday held the operator accountable. The fine is the largest in the state’s history, far eclipsing the $1.6 million against Nobel Energy in 2018 over mechanical integrity issues.

The Firestone case added for the first time the aggravating factor of death to penalties assessed against the industry, Robbins said.

“It think it is appropriate and necessary to hold the operator accountable,” Robbins said.