Explosion sent flames 200 feet high seen for 15 miles

From an Article by Scott DiSavino, Reuters News Service, January 23, 2019

(Reuters) – U.S. natural gas output in the Marcellus and Utica shale in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia dropped by 7 percent on Wednesday, following an explosion on Enbridge Inc’s Texas Eastern (TETCO) pipeline on Monday.

The blast, which injured two people who lived nearby and damaged three homes, occurred on TETCO’s 30-inch (76.2 cm) line about two miles south of Summerfield in Noble County in southeast Ohio at around 10:40 a.m. EST, the Calgary-based company said in a statement.

Before the incident, drillers were producing about 30 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas in the Marcellus and Utica region. That dropped to just 28 bcfd on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv, a financial data provider.

One billion cubic feet is enough gas for about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.

At the time of the blast, gas was flowing through TETCO from the Marcellus and Utica shale fields south toward the Gulf of Mexico, according to gas traders.

The amount of gas moving through TETCO south of the damaged pipe in Athens and Scioto Counties in southern Ohio dropped from around 1.2 bcfd on Monday to less than 0.1 bcfd on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv data.

In Bath, Monroe and Boyle Counties in Kentucky, flows also fell from over 1.0 bcfd on Monday to about 0.1 bcfd Wednesday.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, flows in Greene County in the southwest corner of the state reversed direction from 0.6 bcfd moving West on Monday to 0.4 bcfd heading east on Wednesday. Greene County is one of Pennsylvania’s biggest gas producing counties.

Officials at Enbridge could not say when the damaged section of pipe would return to service. The Calgary-based company said it was working with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to identify the cause, monitor repairs and evaluate environmental impacts.

Enbridge said the damaged section of pipe was built in 1952-53 (65 years) and an inspection of the line was performed in 2012 (6 years) with no remediation needed.

The 9,029-mile (14,531-km) TETCO pipeline was designed to carry gas from the U.S. Gulf Coast and Texas to high-demand markets in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. It became bi-directional over the past five years, enabling it to also carry gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale, where production is growing rapidly, to markets in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast.

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NOTE: We believe that 65 years is an excessive lifetime for a buried metal pipeline operating at high thru-put and high pressure. Further, safety inspections should take place every year for old pipelines, not to five or six or more years. Water lines are relatively safe but natural gas and LPG pipelines are explosive with fires resulting. DGN

Four workers & fireman injured in multiple explosions in Texas

Article from the News Staff, Reuters News Service, August 1, 2018

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A series of natural gas pipeline explosions in Midland County, Texas sent five people to hospital with critical burn injuries, and interrupted energy pipeline operations in the area, officials said.

The region is the home to the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. oilfield, and is crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines. The cause of the explosion and fire were not immediately known.

Five workers with critical injuries were airlifted to University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, and were being treated at the center’s burn unit, said University Medical Center spokesman Eric Finley.

Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan said on Wednesday it had isolated a portion of its El Paso Natural Gas Pipeline (EPNG) as a precaution, after being alerted to the fire near its line. One of its employees was injured and taken to hospital, spokeswoman Sara Hughes said.

“There was a third-party pipeline involved that also experienced a failure, and preliminary indications are that the third-party line failure occurred before the EPNG line failure,” Kinder Morgan’s Hughes said in an email.

The company is investigating the cause of the fire and evaluating any damage to its property. Regulatory agencies and customers were notified of the incident, she added.

“Fire Department personnel suppressed the fire, however approximately one hour later a second and third small explosion followed,” said Elana Ladd, public information officer for the city of Midland, in emailed comments.

Multiple pipelines are located near the site, Ladd said, adding that first responders were focusing on shutting off pressure and flow to the pipelines at the site.

The pipeline explosion occurred on a rural road, FM 1379, about five miles south of Highway 158 at around 11:30 a.m. local time (1630 GMT), Ladd said, adding that the road had been closed. Ladd identified one of the injured as a firefighter.

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See also: Accident sends 20,000 gallons of drilling fluid into Maumee River tributary in Ohio, July 27, 2018

Mountain Valley Pipeline to use 42” diameter pipe

From an Article by Ken Ward Jr., Staff Writer, Charleston Gazette, April 27, 2018

This article was produced in partnership with the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. ProPublica is supporting seven local and regional newsrooms this year, including the Gazette-Mail, as they work on important investigative projects affecting their communities.

More than 26 years ago, I wrote a story about a woman named Dixie Woolum.

I had been at my paper barely six months. At the time, I thought it would be cool that I’d get a dateline from Woolum’s hometown, Cinderella, W.Va. Little did I know then how much that story’s headline — “Broken promises” — really meant in the long history of West Virginia’s relationship with coal.

Woolum’s husband, Jimmy, was a coal miner who had died years earlier.

“Dixie Woolum packed her husband’s dinner bucket every morning,” I wrote. “Jimmy left early to work in the mines outside Williamson, heart of the billion-dollar coalfield.”

I was hoping to illustrate the financial distress faced at the time by Woolum and by thousands of people like her because of the potential collapse of the United Mine Workers of America’s health care plan for retired miners and their families. Miners like Jimmy Woolum thought they were promised health care for life in a long-ago deal between President Harry Truman and legendary UMWA President John L. Lewis.

In reality, protecting that health care has been an almost constant fight, part of the root of the bitter strikes against Pittston Coal and A.T. Massey Coal, the first two in an avalanche of coal operators who tried to stop funding miner benefits and pensions the union had won in its national contract.

Coal miners and coal communities are pretty used to broken promises by now.

Congress promised in 1969 to eliminate black lung disease. But thousands of miners — including Jimmy Woolum — continued to die from it. Today, though the industry knows how to prevent black lung, there’s a resurgence of the disease among miners in Central Appalachia.

Coalfield residents were promised that strip mines would be reclaimed, but most states haven’t required companies to set aside nearly enough money for cleanups, setting the stage for a financial crisis as the industry’s decline puts more and more companies at risk of failing.

Most of all, coalfield communities were promised prosperity — and today some of the places that have produced the most coal are among the region’s poorest.

How can this be?

It’s a crucial question to ask, especially at this critical time in West Virginia, as the state rushes forward with its new relationship with the natural gas industry.

Coal has done a lot for West Virginia. Generations of miners earned a good living, especially after the state’s coalfields were unionized. As Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., likes to remind people in Washington, coal helped win two world wars and built our nation into a global superpower.

The industry’s downsides are, if not always acknowledged by political leaders, well-documented. The great Appalachian historian John Alexander Williams listed coal’s “repetitive cycle of boom and bust, its savage exploitation of men and nature, and its seemingly endless series of disasters,” in an often-cited passage from his seminal history of the state.

And now, in the face of a major decline in the coal industry, families and entire communities that depended on it are hurting.

What will coal leave behind? Many in West Virginia are starting to understand the painful answers to that question: Abandoned mine lands, abandoned pension plans, polluted streams, empty government coffers — giant challenges for local communities in supporting schools and other basic needs.

At the same time, political leaders and business boosters are pointing to natural gas as the way out of West Virginia’s downward spiral, as the answer to our state’s economic problems.

But others worry that the state is headed down the same road with natural gas that it’s been on with coal.

We’ve just published a story detailing those similarities. Earlier this year, for example, Gov. Jim Justice proposed and then quickly backed away from a natural gas tax earlier to help fund our state’s schools. Gov. William Marland did the same thing with a proposed coal tax in the 1950s.

And Marland was far from the first to offer warnings about West Virginia’s wealth being dug from the ground and hauled out of state.

As early as 1884, a state Tax Commission report said, “The question is whether this vast wealth shall belong to persons who live here and who are permanently identified with the future of West Virginia, or whether it shall pass into the hands of persons who do not live here and care nothing for our state except to pocket the treasures which lie buried in our hills.”

In this series of stories, with the help of ProPublica, I hope to bring readers here in West Virginia, and those around the country, a clearer view of how history could be repeating itself.

For example, as my first story illustrates, West Virginia lawmakers and regulators have moved quickly to give gas developers broad latitude to operate, weakening environmental and public safety rules that govern the industry. Over the course of the year, I plan to more fully illustrate the ways the gas boom and what it brings with it are changing our communities and our landscape.

I also plan to look at the impact on workers. Are the jobs from the Marcellus Shale gas boom really going to West Virginians, or are companies bringing in seasoned hands from Texas and Oklahoma? Unlike our experience with coal, is West Virginia using the wealth created during this boom to plan and prepare for some day in the future when the gas is gone and we need a more diverse economy?

Who is in the room when decisions about the gas industry are being made? Are our communities empowered, or are government officials and gas lobbyists working out deals behind closed doors?

Hopefully, the stories about this crossroads in our state will shine some light on how West Virginia can learn from our past and the experience of people like Dixie Woolum. Follow along, and please tell us your stories, about your experience with the coal or the natural gas industry in West Virginia.

You can email us at changingwv@wvgazettemail.com or call 304-348-1702. You can also send us regular mail to Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette-Mail, 1001 Virginia Street, East., Charleston, W.Va., 25301 Plus, we’ll be giving you more information in the days to come about how to take part in this conversation.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kward@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1702, or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.

Leaking Propane Truck off US 250 in Wetzel Co.

Truck Accidents Keep Ohio Valley First Responders Busy

From an Article by Casey Junkings, Wheeling Intelligencer, February 6, 2016

Wheeling, WV — Reports of accidents involving large trucks related to the Marcellus and Utica shale industry continue, as a tractor-trailer carrying propane crashed along U.S. 250 in Wetzel County Thursday, just one day after a water truck wrecked in Marshall County.

Another tanker truck leaving a Utica Shale drilling site on McClainesville Road near Bellaire spilled 20 gallons of hydrochloric acid Saturday night.

According to West Virginia State Police First Sgt. James Stout, the driver of the propane truck lost control of the vehicle near the U.S. 250 intersection with Long Drain Road near Littleton Thursday. This caused the road to be closed for several hours, forcing motorists – including Wetzel County school bus drivers – to use detours.

“You hate to see so many affected by one person’s mistake,” Stout said. “It’s a mess.”

Stout said emergency officials evacuated an undetermined number of area residents as a precaution. He said a small amount of propane was leaking from the truck, although he did not believe this would impact any water sources. Hazmat officials responded to mitigate the spill.

Stout said officials transported the driver, an Illinois resident, to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown for unspecified injuries. No other vehicles or people were involved in the accident.

In addition to the Wednesday water truck wreck in Marshall County, officials in Belmont County confirmed a tanker leaving a well pad crashed along McClainesville Road near Bellaire late Saturday. Neffs Fire Department Chief Mike Knowlton said about 20 gallons of hydrochloric acid leaked onto the ground.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, inhalation exposure to hydrochloric acid may cause coughing, hoarseness, inflammation and ulcers in the respiratory tract and chest pain.

“It was not enough to cause a problem, but we did send in the hazmat team,” Knowlton said.

Most natural gas production companies hire subcontractors to perform services such as well drilling, fracking, construction and transportation. Knowlton said much of the problem is the drivers’ unfamiliarity with Ohio and West Virginia roads.

“So many of the companies are from Texas. They aren’t used to roads with dips and sharp turns,” he said.

Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas said when his department receives complaints about truck traffic, officials do their best to address the problem. “Most companies are responsive in addressing the problems,” he said. “If there is a problem, we address it.”

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Pipeline Air Force on the ready

Highland County scientist leading pipeline opposition

From an Article by Geoff Hamill, Pocahontas Times, Nov. 19, 2014

A retired scientist from Highland County, Virginia, is leading a local effort to prevent construction of a large-diameter natural gas pipeline through national forests in West Virginia and Virginia. Rick Webb, of Mustoe, is a retired senior scientist with the University of Virginia. During a 30-year career in the university’s environmental science department, Webb spent a lot of time studying the forests and streams in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

“I managed a program that involved monitoring the water chemistry of streams in the mountains in Virginia and West Virginia and the Central Appalachian region,” he said. “We collected samples from lots of streams and we did chemical analysis on them in our laboratory. We did a synoptic study involving close to 500 streams in 35 different counties in Virginia, and we did a lot of surveys in West Virginia.”

Dominion Resources and three energy corporation partners have proposed construction of a 550-mile, 42-inch pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina, with a 20-inch spur line to Hampton Roads, Virginia. The companies’ current proposal calls for construction through approximately 30 miles of national forest in West Virginia and Virginia. The project requires approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Several organizations have mobilized to oppose Dominion’s plan, among them the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition (DPMC), of which Webb is a founding member and coordinator. DPMC is a coalition of various groups, including the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, the Greenbrier River Watershed Association, the Sierra Club of Virginia, Wild Virginia, Highlanders for Responsible Development and several other groups.

Webb discussed why he opposes Dominion’s pipeline proposal. “I don’t believe that this project can be built without long-term degradation to this area of the world, which happens to be the best remaining wild landscape in the Eastern United States, hands-down,” he said. “It’s got the greatest biodiversity of anywhere in the Northeast. It’s the largest extent of continuous unfragmented forest and this pipeline would cut right through it. The pipeline would be the dominant feature of the landscape and it would fragment this forest. It would cause temporary and long-term damage to the streams.”

The health of Appalachian Mountain waterways is closely tied to the surrounding forests, according to Webb. “You can’t separate the forests from the streams,” he said. “These are forest streams. The fish that live in these streams, like the brook trout, are forest fish. What happens to the forest and what happens to the soil in the forest affects what happens in the streams. It’s all tied together. I don’t believe there is any mitigation that can make this project acceptable; no implementation of best management practices that will work; no adjustment in the route that will make it okay. It simply cannot be done.”

Webb said Dominion didn’t expect so much resistance from mountain communities. “I don’t think Dominion understands the determination and the depth of the opposition to this project,” he said. “I think they have been taken by surprise, particularly in the mountains. In Nelson County, Augusta County, Highland County, Pocahontas County and Randolph County, people are opposed to this project. People care about this landscape and we will do what we can to stop this project.”

Webb said Dominion’s promise to protect waterways is illusory. “They’re talking about building pipelines straight up and straight down steep mountainsides – 20 or more steep mountainsides – with high quality streams at the bottom of every one of those mountains,” he said. “The landscape is simply too steep and too rugged to do it without damage. They cannot control the runoff. They can’t have runoff control structures in place while they have that equipment on the hillsides. They use multiple bulldozers, four or five bulldozers, chained together, to hold the big trackhoes in place on the mountainside. They can’t have runoff control in place while they have that equipment there – it’s not conceivable. They cannot control runoff in that situation.”

“We’re talking about impacting a landscape that’s been set aside for future generations, for our children and their children and their children. We cannot, for the short-term profit of a private corporation, allow that to happen. This will be the last stronghold of the native brook trout. It’s going to be impacted by climate change, but this is the place it will last the longest. And they want to cross these streams one after the other and damage them. It just can’t be allowed to happen.”

Two other major natural gas pipelines have been proposed to accomplish the same purpose as Dominion’s. EQT Corporation proposed the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would run from West Virginia to North Carolina. William’s Appalachian Connector pipeline would connect gas supply areas in northern West Virginia to the company’s existing Transco pipeline in Southern Virginia. All three pipelines would transport natural gas from production fields in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio to the Atlantic Coast. But Dominion’s pipeline would have the greatest impact on protected public lands, according to Webb.

“There’s three [pipelines] on the books right now being proposed for this region, and it could be four before FERC at the same time.” he said. “The Dominion pipeline is unique in terms of the conservation lands that would be impacted. We’re talking mainly about national forests. Initially, it proposed to cross approximately 50 miles of national forest. They adjusted the route somewhat, now it may be down to 30 miles of national forest. The other pipelines cross just two or three miles of national forest, at the most. There are a lot of issues related to pipeline construction – a lot of them apply to pipelines everywhere. The amount of national forest that’s impacted is what makes the Dominion pipeline stand out.”

DPMC plans to ensure that regulatory agencies are doing their jobs. “We are opposed to this project,” said Webb. “We don’t believe it can be built in compliance with our public environmental policies and our environmental laws and regulations. Our purpose is to bring a new level of scrutiny to the regulatory review of this project, and, if the project goes forward, to its construction. We intend to become as well informed as possible about all of the laws and regulations and authorizations that this pipeline must have to proceed – and there’s a long list.”

DPMC wants corporate directors to understand their responsibility. “The Dominion people who have spoken at these open houses seem very sincere,” said Webb. “They say, ‘we have a very strong environmental ethic, we’re going to do things very carefully.’ Maybe they do, but they’re not the people doing the work. I don’t know if they have any connection to what’s happening on the ground or not. I’m sure the people in the board room won’t have any direct connection to it. Part of our task is to connect the people in the board room to what’s going on on the ground. Make them understand it and make them responsible for it. It’s not going to be okay for Dominion to say, ‘that’s just a rogue sub-contractor.’ We’re going to make sure that they’re not going to get away with it.”

If the Dominion project is approved for construction, DPMC has a plan to monitor construction from the ground and air. “Our surveillance will involve water quality downstream,” said Webb. “We’re working with other groups to make that happen. We also have what we call the pipeline air force. We have four planes and four pilots. They’re helping us with case studies. We’re getting aerial photography of other projects that have gone forward. If this project goes forward, despite all of our concerns and despite the environmental review process that should not allow it to go forward, we plan to be in the air watching this project very carefully with video cameras and still cameras. We will use the evidence to go to the agencies, we will go to the courts, we will do what we can to prevent serial damage, as they go forward. We fully expect to see egregious damage, based on what we’ve seen at other pipeline projects.”

“Our own governor [Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe] has pre-empted the process by declaring it’s a good project before anybody’s even looked at it,” said Webb. “He did not even consult with his own Secretary of Natural Resources or any of the agencies that are there for him to work with to make sure that environmental policies and laws are implemented. He made a decision without consulting with these people and to me, that’s unethical.”

To download a slideshow presentation produced by Webb, “Pipeline Across the Alleghenies – Wild Landscape at Risk,” see protecthighland.org on the Internet.

(See “video section” or “you-tube” to view a statement from Rick Webb)

See also: www.mareproject.org

1st Annual Shale Safety Institute, Nov. 2014

Shale drilling spawns need for safety training

Article by Casey Junkins, Martins Ferry Times Leader, November 28, 2014

As the Ohio Department of Natural Resources continues issuing permits for Utica and Marcellus shale oil and natural gas drilling, firefighters and emergency responders across the region realize they need to learn the proper manner for dealing with potential problems at well sites.

“Energy development in the Ohio Valley has presented many great opportunities, including a stronger local economy and incredible advancements and research,” Belmont College President Paul Gasparro said. “With this development has also come a heightened awareness regarding safety issues. Through the Shale Safety Institute, first responders and emergency service personnel are receiving the highly relevant training and education they need to be able to respond to oilfield related incidents and keep our communities safe.”

Recently, the college partnered with New York City-based driller Hess Corp. to welcome more than 250 local first responders today to the Shale Safety Institute 2014. Sixty-six fire and EMS stations sent representatives to participate in the training.

“Hess holds its commitment to social responsibility as one of its top values as a company,” Rob Williams, Hess manager of Operations in the Utica field, said. “Hess is dedicated to developing trusted partnerships to build programs like the Shale Safety Institute 2014 that can make long-lasting positive impacts in the communities where we work and live.”

A mass casualty session taught triage methods where participants practiced their skills on mannequins altered to represent emergency victims. During a foam application course, responders simulated spraying firefighting foam firsthand from a fire engine. Participants also practiced establishing a landing zone as a helicopter flew into the site.

“Training events, such as the Shale Safety Institute, are highly relevant to our local first responders. It is important to have hands-on instruction to familiarize ourselves with the necessary equipment and guidelines in case of an emergency situation,” Curtis Kyer, Belmont College Assistant EMS and Fire Coordinator, added.

Also, the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program recently completed its fall firefighter training series. First responders from the Barton Volunteer Fire Department, Brookside Fire Department, Cumberland Trail Fire District, Neffs Volunteer Fire Department, Sunset Heights Fire Department and Wolfhurst Volunteer Fire Department recently completed the training course.

“I learned a wealth of information that I will take back to my department,” said Lt. Robert Ice from the Wolfhurst VFD upon completing the training.

“As someone who works with the industry and the fire service, this training was very helpful,” said Lt. Charles Thompson II from the Barton VFD. “It provides a great overview of what could happen in the field and I think every firefighter should take the course.”

Those completing the course gain information in Ohio oil and gas activity and development, differences between emergencies and non-emergencies or common oilfield practices, common terminology and types of equipment used during oilfield activity, and hands-on techniques for responding to potential incidents, including live demonstrations.

Since 1999, the organization has trained more than 1,200 firefighters from Ohio and seven other states. The training curriculum was collaboratively developed by the group, the oil and gas industry, regulatory agencies, firefighters and emergency response experts and meets state and federal fire safety standards.

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Noble County sheriff identifies dead worker from oil well explosion

By Bob Downing, Associate Press,  November 13, 2014

Summerfield, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a worker at an eastern Ohio oil well has died in an explosion at the facility. Noble County Sheriff Stephen Hannum said in a statement Thursday that 48-year-old Norman Butler of Virginia died in the accident Wednesday afternoon near the CONSOL Energy well pad, about 40 miles north of Marietta.

Authorities say the explosion occurred near an oil well head and caused a fire, which was contained but continued to burn Thursday. Rescuers were also still on the scene late Thursday morning attempting to recover Butler’s body from the site.

A spokeswoman with Blue Racer Midstream, which owns and operates the facility, says all production wells and pipelines at the site have been secured. She says the company will continue to work with authorities to investigate the accident.

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Another Man is Dead Following a Well Pad Accident

From RESQ_WV, WTRF 7 News, November 29, 2014

Tyler County, WV – WTRF 7 News has learned one man is dead following an accident at an Antero Resources gas well pad in Tyler County. The accident happened around 2 p.m. Friday November 28th at the well pad on Braden Hill Road.

The victim’s name is not being released at this time. The Tyler County Sheriff’s Department, Middlebourne Fire Department, Shirley Fire Department, and Middlebourne EMS were all on scene.

The details of the accident are not being released, but the investigation is being handled by the Tyler County Sheriff’s Department.

NOTE: The Shirley Volunteer Fire Department of Tyler County has issued an appeal for money to purchase a new or used tanker truck.  This would replace the tanker that became damaged beyond repair at a gas well pad fire earlier this fall in Tyler County.

See also:  www.FrackCheckWV.net

Blast At Pump Kills Va. Worker  — Blue Racer facility near Caldwell in Ohio erupts in fire Wednesday

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, November 14, 2014

CALDWELL, OHIO – A Wednesday evening blast and resulting fire at a Blue Racer Midstream natural gas processing station near Caldwell in Noble County in Ohio killed 48-year-old Norman Butler, a contract worker from Virginia. Blue Racer spokeswoman said Butler was working on a natural gas liquids pump that moves that condensate into a gathering pipeline. Condensate is considered a light oil with a consistency similar to gasoline.

Blue Racer is a partnership of Dominion Resources and Caiman Energy. Through its vast and expanding network of pipelines, processing stations and compressors, the company moves natural gas. The pipeline into which the Noble County condensate is pumped leads to the giant Natrium plant along the Ohio River in Marshall County.

The Noble County Blue Racer site is adjacent to a Consol Energy natural gas well pad. Consol is Blue Racer’s “customer,” as the condensate Blue Racer processes comes from Consol’s well. The accident happened at the processing station.

There were no other injuries to Blue Racer or Consol Energy employees or contractors. The Noble County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene immediately following the incident along with local fire departments, the Noble County Emergency Management Agency and the state Fire Marshal.

All production wells and pipelines nearby are shut down while an investigation takes place. The Noble County Sheriff said officials remained on the scene to fully extinguish and contain the fire Thursday. He also asked for a “no fly zone” in the area of the fire as a precautionary matter.

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Fracking blast kills one Halliburton worker, injures 2 in Weld County, Colorado

From an Article by Jesse Paul & Mark Jaffe, Denver Post, November 13, 2014

MEAD, COLORADO — One worker was killed and two were seriously injured Thursday when a frozen, high pressure water line ruptured at a Weld County oil well site. The workers were trying to thaw the line when the accident occurred, officials said.

The Anadarko Petroleum Corp. well was being hydraulically fractured, or fracked, by the Halliburton Co. and the workers were Halliburton employees. Anadarko said it was suspending all fracking operations in the area pending a review of the accident.

The area has been the scene of drilling since at least 1979, but this year Anadarko has sunk at least nine, deep horizontal wells, according to state records. Each of those wells has to be fracked by pumping a mixture of water, sand and trace chemicals into the well at high pressure to crack rock and release oil.

Thomas Sedlmayr, 48, was airlifted to Denver Health and Grant Casey, 28, was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. The name of the dead worker has not been released.

Weld County Sheriff’s Office deputies are investigating the accident. The death and injuries appeared to be caused by a high-pressure water valve that ruptured, said agency spokesman Sean Standridge, the office’s spokesman. Firefighters also responded to the accident.

The workers were trying to warm the pipe, which had frozen, when it ruptured, Standridge said.  The temperature was about 10 degrees at the time, but overnight temperatures were well below zero. The water pressure was estimated at between 2,500 and 3,500 pounds per square inch.  Dozens of people work at the site, which is about two hundred yards long.

Investigators with the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration in Denver were notified of the accident at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, said Herb Gibson, OSHA area director. Two investigators are at the Mead area site looking into the accident, Gibson said. “It’s a dangerous industry,” Gibson said. “This is a tragic situation.”

The oil and gas industry in 2012 had a fatality rate of about 25 per 100,000 workers — higher than construction, manufacturing, or agriculture, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Between 2007 and 2011 there were 19 oil and gas field fatalities in Colorado, according to federal data.

In 2012, a 60-year-old worker died in another Weld County drilling accident that occurred when pressurized gas was released as workers prepared an Encana Corp. Davis well pad to begin pumping. In October a worker was killed on a drilling rig in Garfield County.

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Reported Gas Well Explosion in Lewis County, WV

ORIGINAL: 10/31/14 –  WDTV – 5 News has received viewer concerns about an incident at a gas well in the area, Friday. Lewis County 911 says that EMS crews and the Walkersville Fire Department responded to a well site in Walkersville around 3:30 p.m. No word on any injuries or on what happened.

UPDATE: 11/01/14 –  Lewis County 911 officials said this reported incident was a gas well explosion. There’s no reports yet if anyone was injured or what caused it.

NOTE: An unconfirmed report indicates that a 16 year old on an ATV was injured or killed as a result of an explosion at a conventional gas well site.

<<<   See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net >>>

Regulators have fined Jay-Bee Oil & Gas more than $73,000 after finding the same kinds of violations in Harrison County that inspectors found a year ago when they visited the site.  The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued 10 repeat citations, three serious citations and four other citations last week for problems at a drilling site near Salem.

“This company’s failure to correct previously cited violations means that it continues to place workers in harm’s way,” said Prentice Cline, director of OSHA’s Charleston area office. “It is vital that the company address these hazards to protect its employees.”

The repeat citations are based on an OSHA inspection conducted in February. They included the lack of guardrails or barricades around drilling pits, tripping hazards on walkways and the lack of first-aid equipment and training at the operation. OSHA inspectors also found that the company did not provide workers with required information or training about the hazardous materials used at the operation.

Jay-Bee Oil & Gas of Union, New Jersey,  has drilled dozens of wells in West Virginia.  The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, ask for an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

At least four workers have died at Marcellus Shale sites in Pennsylvania since 2008, including Kerry Duncan of Roane County, WV, who died on July 22nd. And, two of the three workers burned on February 10th at a Chesapeake drilling site in Washington County, PA, were West Virginians. In fact, there have been around 50 emergencies reported at Marcellus shale gas operations in Pennsylvania since 2008.  OSHA and the various companies of the natural gas industry are including safety training in many cases for their employees, given the dangerous nature of the work involved.