Some Fracking Humor

used with permission of artist, Russeau

My friend, an artist, cartoonist and all around excellent person, has been doodling weekly gas-field humor for the Broader View Weekly (Chemung & Tioga Counties, NY) for the past couple years or more. Every now and then he lets me post 'em.

Gas Pipeline explodes in Texas

Crews drilling for natural gas in Marcellus Shale aren't the only ones having difficulties this week. A utility company accidentally hit a large natural gas line near Cleburne, Texas on Monday. The pressurized gas erupted, sending a column of fire into the air and killing one worker.  The blast was so severe that the closest resident said. The force of the blast was so strong, it blew an auger that weighs roughly one ton nearly a football field away. You can read the news report here.

Another Marcellus Well Explosion - this time West Virginia

One thing we should know by now: natural gas explodes, whether it's bubbling up through an ocean drilling rig or a well drilled into Marcellus shale. Yesterday a crew drilling a natural gas well through an abandoned coal mine near Morgantown, West Virginia hit a pocket of methane gas that triggered an explosion, burning seven workers. According to AP reports, the explosion happened about 1:30 a.m. in a rural area outside Moundsville, about 55 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. A column of fire shot at least 70 feet high, but the flames fell to 40 feet within hours. Gas continued to burn late Monday afternoon. Read more here.