The commission, in recently updated data, lists only 13 health complaints out of a total of about 1,500 complaints in the past five years. Garfield County, where Hoffmeister lives, has logged 13 health complaints out of 360 complaints since 2003. But spokespersons for both entities say complaints with a health component often are logged under another category such as "odors" or "environmental."

"Someone might call and say 'every time I smell this odor I get fatigued or a headache or it burns my eyes,'" said Jim Rada, environmental health manager with Garfield County. "There is no medical information to support that." So it is catalogued under an odor complaint.

Astrella, the lawyer, said the numbers of ill energy field residents are much higher than listed. Many people don't know where to go with concerns. And they run into disbelief.

"I'm dealing with sick people all over the country," Astrella said. "There has been very little done to show the effects of long-term, relatively low-dosage exposure. But there is no doubt in anybody's mind who works with citizens that these things are happening. "

Residents can tick off dozens of friends and neighbors who believe they have been sickened by wells. Tara Meixel, a Silt resident who has been cataloging health complaints for a book, listed five other families with serious health concerns in Hoffmeister's neighborhood and dozens more in nearby areas of heavy drilling.

Silverstein said he has listened to more than 100 citizen complaints in the past few years. But no logs have been kept, and in a majority of cases — particularly air quality — no corrective action has been taken. Gases can dissipate quickly, and levels of chemicals that residents say make them sick may not be above what federal standards consider safe.

"I know 11 former close neighbors I still speak to who all have the symptoms," said Susan Haire, a 57-year-old rancher who sold her home near Parachute last year after suffering from gas exposure.

Haire made repeated calls to the oil and gas commission in 2005 after she collapsed while irrigating about 50 feet from two uncovered gas tanks. She said a commission representative came out but said he didn't smell anything. It wasn't until a month later — after she spoke up in a public commission meeting — that caps were put on the tanks. Her physician believes those tanks leaked deadly hydrogen sulfide gas.

Theo Colborn, a researcher who has been studying energy field chemicals from her Endocrine Disruption Exchange Inc. office in Paonia, has been trying to make a scientific link to health woes in the energy fields and the chemicals being used.