DEP to Well Contractor: "Halt All Activities in PA"

Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ordered C.C. Forbes, of Washington, PA, to suspend all post-hydraulic fracturing activities on Marcellus Shale wells in the state immediately. DEP is currently investigating the June 3 well blowout in Clearfield County.

According to DEP Secretary John Hanger, EOG Resources - the company that owns the well in Lawrence Township - hired C.C. Forbes as a contractor to provide post-fracking services at the site.

DEP’s order not only demands the company suspend all post-fracking activity, but also requires C.C. Forbes to provide site and equipment records specific to the Punxsutawney Hunting Club 36H well, including any written, photographic and video documentation. The company must also furnish the names of its employees who were working at the site or have knowledge of the equipment used there. The secretary said those employees must be made available to the department for questioning.

“We need to fully investigate the equipment used by this company to ensure that other sites in Pennsylvania are not in danger of experiencing similar blowouts that could place the public or our environment at risk,” said Hanger. “This was a serious incident that could have resulted in the loss of life or significant damage to our natural resources and the department is prepared to use all means necessary to find the cause of the blowout.

“It is imperative that C.C. Forbes provide all records related to the equipment it used, as well as access to its employees that were present when the incident occurred,” Hangar said.
 
Read the original press release here.

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.

DEP Orders EOG Resources to Halt all Drilling in PA

Today the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ordered EOG Resources Inc. to suspend its natural gas well drilling activities in Pennsylvania. This decision results from the June 3 blowout at one of the company’s Clearfield County wells, which spewed natural gas and more than 35,000 gallons* of drilling wastewater into the sky and over the ground for 16 hours. *previous DEP report pegged it at close to a million gallons

DEP Secretary John Hanger said that while the order bans all drilling and hydrofracturing, or fracking, operations for specified periods of time, the suspension will remain in effect until DEP has completed a comprehensive investigation into the leak and the company has implemented any needed changes.

“DEP staff, along with an independent expert, will conduct a detailed investigation of not just the incident that occurred last week in Clearfield County, but of EOG Resources’ drilling operations, as a whole, here in Pennsylvania,” said Hanger. “The Clearfield County incident presented a serious threat to life and property. We are working with the company to review its Pennsylvania drilling operations fully from beginning to end to ensure an incident of this nature does not happen again.”

The order prohibits EOG Resources from drilling activities up to seven days; from engaging in fracking operations up to 14 days; and from completing or initiating post-fracking operations for 30 days in any wells throughout the state. These actions and operations cannot resume until the department agrees that the investigation has been fully completed.

The results of the investigation will also help determine whether DEP should take additional enforcement action against the company, such as fines or penalties.

So far, Hanger notes that EOG Resources has been fully cooperative and in agreement with the department’s ongoing investigation and orders. 

At 8 pm on Thursday, June 3 the well’s operators lost control of it while preparing to extract gas after fracking the shale. Natural gas and flowback frack fluid shot 75 feet into the air, and spilled on surrounding ground.  The well was finally capped at around noon on June 4. The well was one of four located on the EOG well pad in a rural area near the Penfield/Route 153 exit of Interstate 80 in northwestern Clearfield County, near Moshannon State Forest.

“Fortunately, the well did not ignite and explode, and there were no injuries to the well crew or emergency responders,” said Hanger. “Our preliminary assessment is that the environmental damage was modest as the frack fluid was contained and did not appear to reach any streams, but DEP is continuing its monitoring efforts because sometimes the impacts of a spill like this are delayed. We have noted that a spring in the area has shown a spike in conductivity and that discharge is being collected by EOG for proper disposal.”

The secretary noted that the company expects to have a more accurate estimate of the amount of fracking water that was leaked after it finishes draining the pits and waterboxes it deployed to collect the fluids. As of June 7, initial estimates totaled 35,000 gallons, although more was certainly released and the company believes this accounts for a majority of the leaked water.

DEP’s preliminary investigation has determined that a blowout preventer on the well failed, but the agency does not yet know if that failure was the main cause of the incident. The blowout preventer has been secured and will be one piece of the investigation.

EOG Resources, formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Co., operates approximately 265 active wells in Pennsylvania, 117 of which are in the Marcellus Shale formation.

Read the full press release here. 

For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us.

Marcellus Well Blows out in Moshannon State Forest, PA

Natural gas and drilling fluids began spewing from an out-of-control well  in Moshannon State Forest (Lawrence Township in Clearfield County), PA last night. It took 16 hours, but now state environmental officials say that the well - drilled by EOG Resources, Inc (formerly Enron Oil & Gas) - is under control. The leak happened at a Marcellus well being drilled on McGeorge Road, causing evacuation Friday morning.

According to media reports, State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesman Dan Spadoni said no one was injured and there are no homes within a mile of the well. He said polluted drilling water did not reach a waterway. About 1 million gallons of hydro-fracking fluid were released in addition to the gas.

DEP secretary John Hanger told the press that his agency intends to investigate aggressively the circumstances surrounding this blowout. "The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property," said Hanger, adding that it was not a "minor accident, but a serious incident."

When DEP arrived on the scene natural gas and frack fluid was flowing off the well pad and heading toward tributaries to Little Laurel Run and gas was shooting into the sky, creating a significant fire hazard.

Right now DEP is working to limit further environmental damage. "But once that work is complete, we plan to aggressively look at this situation and see where things went wrong and what enforcement action is necessary," Hanger said. "If mistakes were made, we will be certain to take steps to prevent similar errors from happening again."

In addition to the Emergency Management Agency and DEP, teams from Texas were called to help control the situation and a command trailer was set up. DEP evacuated the area, including campers, and the Federal Aviation Administration issued a flight restriction in the immediate area shortly after 11am this morning.



read articles here  and here
read the DEP press release here