Modern frack well pads may have 12 or more well heads at pressure

From a News Flash by John Lynch, WTRF News 7, Wheeling, on July 11, 2023

(WTRF) – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced on Tuesday the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management is responding to a natural gas release from a well in Columbiana County.

The incident happened on the Tarka Pad on Fairfield School Road near Columbiana. ODNR is coordinating with local first responders, the operator of the well (Hilcorp Energy Company), Ohio EPA and oil and gas emergency contractors to mitigate the situation.

Hilcorp Energy Company reported that a third-party contractor struck a wellhead on the pad around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. Emergency shut-down devices for the remaining 12 wells on the pad were activated and all remaining wells and pipelines are shut-in. Hilcorp has secured the services of a well control specialist who is anticipated on site Tuesday evening to begin operations to regain control of the well.

Local emergency management officials instituted a one-mile evacuation zone shortly after the incident occurred and more than 450 people have been safely evacuated. No injuries have been reported.

Ohio EPA is on-scene providing incident support. Officials say baseline air monitoring is occurring and will continue until the situation is under control. Any updates regarding evacuations will be made by local emergency management officials.

ODNR says they will continue to work with all state and local authorities to monitor the situation until the operator regains control of the well. Unless you are ordered to evacuate, stay in your home with the doors and windows closed. If you can close the fresh-air intake of your air conditioning system, do so, according to officials.

>>> If you are experiencing unusual shortness of breath, dizziness, or clumsiness that you believe may be related to this contact a healthcare provider. A claims hotline has been established for those who have been affected by the incident. The number is (877) 872-1288.

Natural gas so cold it becomes liquid under pressure, proposed for export in Delaware River & Delaware Bay

From the Kallanish Energy News, April 29, 2020

An environmental group has filed a lawsuit in federal court against a proposed pier in the Delaware River in New Jersey for liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers. The suit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in New Jersey by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

The suit charges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should not have approved the $96 million project that includes a 1,600-foot pier and a storage facility in New Jersey’s Gloucester County. The permit had been issued last February 28.

The project at Gibbstown, New Jersey, is being advanced by Delaware River Partners, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy LLC. Those tankers would load LNG that had been moved about 200 miles by truck and rail from the Marcellus Shale in northeast Pennsylvania under the plan by New Fortress Energy.

The company has gotten a special federal rail permit to be allowed to move LNG by rail in specially designed rail cars.

Construction started last fall at a New Fortress liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania. It is expected to be operational in late 2020 or early 2021.

New Fortress has plans for a second facility in Pennsylvania. It would be operational in first quarter 2021. Each plant would produce 3.6 million gallons of LNG per day or 2.15 million tons of LNG per year.

In related news, the Delaware River Basin Commission has set a May 11 hearing for an adjudicatory hearing on the project. Hearing officer John Kelly will hear evidence and then decide whether to recommend that the commission uphold or reject its approval of the project last June.

The commission, a governmental body, can accept or reject his recommendation. Critics have argued that the commission did not allow enough time for public comment in approving the project that would allow two tankers to dock at Gibbstown on the Delaware River.

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See also: Critics of LNG Plan Say Army Corps Failed to Assess Impacts Before Issuing Permit | NJ Spotlight, John Hurtle, April 27, 2020

The environmental group Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) filed a complaint in federal court in New Jersey last week, claiming that the Corps, one of several regulators that must sign off on the project, had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by not doing an environmental impact study (EIS) on the project on the Delaware River at Gibbstown in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

Transporting LNG via trucks or trains carries unacceptable risks

FROM AN ARTICLE BY JON HURDLE, NEW JERSEY SPOTLIGHT, MARCH 4, 2020

Trial-like proceeding will hear all sides and recommend whether to uphold Delaware River Basin Commission’s approval.

The Delaware River Basin Commission has set up a quasi-judicial hearing on a controversial plan to build New Jersey’s first liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Delaware River, giving opponents a high-profile opportunity to reargue their case almost a year after the project was approved by the interstate water regulator.

The DRBC said the hearing, due to start on April 15 in Mercerville, will include testimony by the project’s developer, Delaware River Partners (DRP) as well as commission staff, and the environmental group Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN), which opposes the project and called last July for a rehearing.

“This announcement is a stunning admission that the DRBC failed to provide a full or fair opportunity for public comment before approving the Gibbstown Logistics LNG export facility,” said Delaware Riverkeeper Network leader Maya van Rossum, in a statement.

The “adjudicatory hearing,” a trial-like proceeding that will include direct- and cross-examination of witnesses by all sides, will take place before a hearing officer — an official from the Pennsylvania Department of State — who will later recommend to the commission whether to uphold or reject its approval of the project last June. The commission will be under no obligation to accept the recommendation.

Some seats will be made available for the public to attend the hearing but the public will not be allowed to speak, the DRBC said.

Former DuPont site in Gloucester County, NJ

Delaware Riverkeeper Network previously argued that the commission didn’t allow nearly enough time for the public to comment on the proposal, which would build a 43-feet deep berth on a former DuPont site at Gibbstown on the Delaware River in Gloucester County. The project would make space for two oceangoing tankers to ship LNG that would be carried by rail from the gas-rich reserves of the Marcellus Shale in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Under an earlier plan, the fuel was to be shipped to Gibbstown in hundreds of trucks. But in December, the federal pipeline regulator, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, approved the use of trains to carry LNG from Wyalusing, PA to Gibbstown, the first route in the nation where shipment of LNG by rail would be allowed. It is unclear whether there will be any truck shipments.

Other fuels that would be shipped via the $95 million dock include butane, ethane, propane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). There will be no bulk storage and no manufacturing of any of the liquids at the site, DRBC said.

The proposed terminal would be an addition to Dock 1, a deep-water berth on the same site for multipurpose freight shipping such as automobiles and break-bulk cargo (not shipped in containers), that was substantially completed in December 2018.

Issues of public and environmental safety

Delaware Riverkeeper Network and other critics argue that the project would be a risk to public safety because of the highly explosive nature of super-cooled natural gas to be transported in rail tankers about 175 miles through many densely populated areas. They also say it would endanger the health of the Delaware River, and increase demand for fracked gas amid efforts by New Jersey and many other states to reduce their dependence on climate-altering fossil fuels. The environmental group said the hearing announcement shows DRBC now recognizes that it should have given the public more opportunity to comment before approving the project.

Delaware Riverkeeper Network leader van Rossum said it should not have been necessary for her organization to file a legal challenge and obtain expert reports — which will be presented at the hearing — to challenge the DRBC’s approval.

Kate Schmidt, a spokeswoman for DRBC, said the commission gave 14 days’ notice of a June 6, 2019 public hearing on whether to approve the project, more than the 10 days required by commission rules, and written comment was accepted until June 7. The commission approved the project on June 12.

After the upcoming hearing, the hearing officer will submit his findings and recommendations, based on hearing testimony and public written comments, which must be received by April 24, Schmidt said.

‘Highly unusual’ move to reopen case

Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey, said that reopening the public debate over the project was a “highly unusual” move that reflected an inadequate comment period before the approval was issued.

“Better late than never to have a more open public-comment process, but it’s a reflection that the public didn’t get an adequate opportunity to weigh in previously,” he said. “It was a very rushed process that followed the letter of the law but did not follow the spirit.”

Airing the issues before a hearing officer will provide “a measure of independence” to the process, said O’Malley, whose organization also opposes the plan. Even though the commission is not required to accept the hearing officer’s recommendations, any conclusion that the terminal should not go ahead would send a “very powerful message” to the DRBC, he said.

In June last year, the project needed permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, Gloucester County, and Greenwich Township, the DRBC said.

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See also: Delaware Riverkeeper appeals state permit for LNG project in Gibbstown, Cherry Hill Courier Post, October 21, 2019

A coalition of environmental groups is fighting plans to ship LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Repauno Port & Rail Terminal on the Delaware River in Greenwich Township. Formerly owned by DuPont Company, the site is now under development by New Fortress Energy and Delaware River Partners as a rail terminal and deep-water port.

Texas Eastern 30 inch Natural Gas Pipeline explodes of unknown cause

From an Article by Bill Estep, Mike Stunson, and Rebekah Alvey, Lexington Herald-Leader, August 02, 2019

The NTSB is investigating after a gas pipeline exploded, destroying homes, killing a woman and injuring several others early Thursday in Lincoln County, authorities said.

The explosion occurred in the Indian Camp Trailer Park about 1:20 a.m. just outside Junction City, Kentucky, and flames shot up 300 feet in the air, according to Lincoln County Emergency Management director Don Gilliam.

The fire — that could be seen dozens of miles away in Lexington and other communities — engulfed some homes and damaged others while residents fled. Nine homes were destroyed or extensively damaged, Gilliam said.

“We are immensely sorry,” said Devin Hotzel, spokesman for Enbridge, the parent company of Texas Eastern that owns the line. He apologized during a meeting Thursday night to help affected residents with their immediate housing, food and medication needs.

Lisa Denise Derringer, 58, was killed, the Lincoln County coroner’s office told WKYT. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday, Kentucky State Police Trooper Robert Purdy said. Her daughter, Candy Ellis, wrote on Facebook that her mother called in her last moments. “She called me but couldn’t speak this morning,” Ellis said. “I have to believe that her heart was at peace when I was calling her name.”

At least five were injured in the blast, Gilliam said. The injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville treated five injured victims and four were released, a spokesperson said.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Robert Purdy describes how a deputy rescued two people who were in danger after a gas pipeline explosion in Lincoln County Ky., on Aug. 1, 2019.

One of the injured was a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy who helped rescue an elderly man and woman. “Without him being there at the right time, we could have had more casualties than what we had,” Purdy said of the deputy.

Although up to seven people were unaccounted for in the early hours after the blast, by noon Thursday, all had been located, Purdy said. The fire was out by 8 a.m., Purdy said. Anything within 500 yards of the fire and explosion had some kind of damage, he added.

Of the nine hardest hit homes, five were destroyed and four were extensively damaged. More received less serious damage. Others were uninhabitable temporarily with water and electric service turned off. Enbridge will provide assistance, including temporary housing, to victims if needed, Hotzel said.

”There is just nothing left,” Gilliam said of some of the homes.

Initial reports indicated a gas line had ruptured, triggering the blast. Victims were amazed they survived the inferno. “It was either stay and burn up or run and burn up,” said Denver Coulter whose home burned. “I still don’t see how we got out alive.”

Judy Gooch was jolted from her bed by a “horrendous” roaring sound at her mobile home and when she looked outside it was like daylight, she said. The home was shaking. “We just saw flames shooting up over the roof. The air was so hot it would take your breath,” Gooch said. She and her 16-year-old granddaughter escaped in their car. “There was a lot of people running from the fire,” and to the road, she said.

New Hope Baptist Church served as a shelter for fire victims and those who left their surrounding houses in fear after the mobile home park blast. Initally, about 75 people were sent to the church, Lincoln County Deputy Jim Vines said. A 1.5 mile stretch of U.S. 127 between Junction City and Hustonville also was temporarily closed, Vines added.

Some affected residents at Thursday night’s meeting were petrified to return to their homes and received assurances they could. “Everybody … is scared to death that it’s going to happen again,” said Mary Jo Wood whose home was destroyed.

The 30-inch ruptured gas line that caused the explosion was shut off afterward, according to James McGuffey, Enbridge area manager. The company had multiple representatives at the site. A cause for the rupture was not immediately known, and it could take several days to determine, he added.

The pipeline was one of three in the area, according to McGuffey. Pressure was decreased drastically in the other two in case they were compromised in some way by the explosion. The ruptured pipeline, a Texas Eastern transmission line, stretches more than 9,000 miles from the Mexico border in Texas to New York City.

On Jan. 21, the same natural gas pipeline exploded in Noble County, Ohio, causing the destruction of two homes and injuries to two people, according to multiple media reports. The pipeline will be the focus of the National Transportation Safety Board which said it was sending three investigators to Kentucky.

Some residents living on or near the gas lines feared an accident while others didn’t, even after Thursday’s blast. Jason Griffitts who owns a farm adjoining the mobile home park said he worries more about a train derailment from tracks that run behind the house than he worries about the three gas lines that run under the land about 460 feet away from the house.

A blast like Thursday’s is “such a rarity,” he said. He got a visit from gas company representatives previously and they instructed him on the signs — hissing, dirt blowing up, dead vegetation — of a gas leak. It’s not clear if there were any advance signs that trouble was brewing in the mobile home park before Thursday.

“It was like a rocket turned upside down.” Witness describes scene of fire. Keith Demaree lives near where a natural-gas pipeline exploded early Aug. 1 in Lincoln County, Ky., that killed one woman. He said the frightening blast sent flames shooting 300 feet high. Gilliam, the emergency manager for the county, said he wakes up in the night concerned about the pipelines.

“When you get age on ‘em, you can’t help but be concerned,” he said. “I don’t know who would want to build next to a pipeline.” Despite the death and damage, the community got lucky Thursday because the results could have been much worse, Gilliam said.

“Our prayers are with all the families whom this disaster has touched, and our gratitude is with all the first responders who rushed toward towering flames to protect their neighbors and communities,” the Kentucky Republican said.

Laura Sioux Kirkpatrick wrote on Facebook her parents lost everything in the fire. She said her mother was burned but OK. “My step dad who is a Marine said he thought it was a nuclear attack it was so bright and the house walls was just melting right in front of their eyes,” Kirkpatrick wrote. “We don’t know how they got out alive but they did barely and at one point was trapped in the house and was for sure they where not going to get out.”

ACP Pipeline would connect to existing Transco Pipeline (right-of-way shown)

From an Article by Gregory S. Schneider, Washington Post, August 28, 2018

Photo: The Transco Pipeline cuts through the forests of Buckingham County and crosses Route 56 in the foreground. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline would pass through Buckingham County and connect to this pipeline. A compressor station would be built at this intersection.

RICHMOND — An advisory board appointed by the governor has recommended that the state rescind permits for two natural-gas-pipeline projects, putting its members at odds with Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who maintains that the regulatory process is working as it should.

The 15-member Advisory Council on Environmental Justice on Tuesday formally urged Northam to direct state agencies to suspend water and air quality permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, separate projects being built through mountainous and rural parts of the state.

[The Baptists and the yogis join to fight a pipeline]

Raising questions about the impact on health and the environment from the pipelines, the council said the governor should appoint an emergency task force “to ensure that predominately poor, indigenous, brown and/or black communities do not bear an unequal burden of environmental pollutants and life-altering disruptions.”

The board, created in October by Gov. Terry Mc­Auliffe (D), has no authority over the process but is charged with providing “independent advice and recommendations to the Executive Branch” on matters of environmental justice, according to Executive Order 73, which established it.

Its members include faculty from several state universities, a representative of state Indian tribes and people from several environmental and social justice groups, such as the Virginia Poverty Law Center, Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. All 15 council members were appointed by McAuliffe.

The council has met in recent weeks with the community of Union Hill in Buckingham County, a historically African American area that is the planned site of a compressor station for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

That project will carry natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia through the central part of Virginia and into North Carolina. It’s being built by a consortium of companies led by Dominion Energy.

The Union Hill compressor station faces a key state air-quality permit hearing on September 11th, and the advisory council recommended that Northam suspend that process to give it deeper review.

A spokesman for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline said Dominion has gone to great lengths to accommodate the concerns of Union Hill residents. “We strongly disagree with the Advisory Council’s recommendations,” Aaron Ruby said via email.

Northam casts himself as an environmentalist, but he has drawn criticism from other Democrats for failing to oppose the pipeline projects. He has countered that he is satisfied that state agencies are conducting a thorough review of the projects.

The governor “was instrumental in the advisory council’s formation precisely because he values [its] feedback,” Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said via email. “The Governor and his staff will review the letter carefully and respond to the Council.”

Work on both pipelines is suspended in Virginia after federal judges found that federal agencies had issued several permits without adequate scrutiny.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 300-mile project being built by a coalition of companies led by EQT Midstream Partners of Pittsburgh, is farther along because it had secured erosion and sediment control permits from the state. Those permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are still under review.

[Virginia regulators consider revoking pipeline permits, but settle for stricter review]

Last week, the State Water Control Board debated suspending permits for both pipelines and subjecting them to a more detailed analysis of each place where the projects cross a stream or river, but it ultimately pulled back in a 4-to-3 vote. Instead, the board urged state regulators to apply the strictest oversight possible.

The government needs to fully evaluate all the issues and reject pipelines when necessary

Essay by S. Tom Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor & Resident Farmer, Lewis County WV, July 30, 2018

The word in a businessman’s mind only has to duplicate the real world to the extent of making profit. Unfortunately, for society as a whole, a lot of other aspects of the real world are important.

One illustration of real word discord between the abstraction of the folks that sit in air-conditioned offices in summer and heated offices in winter and think about how to make a profit, given certain assets, came to me a few days ago. A timber man was telling about his last job. He’d paid to cut and remove a stand of timber, gotten in all the paperwork, satisfied the inspector about his haul roads, and all that, and gotten into the job.

Then a pipeline company had sent a representative through and told him he would have to stop, they were going to clear a right of way for one of the 42 inch pipelines. He quit, and they cut the right of way and piled the trees alongside their clearing. When he was released to go back to it, the timber was worthless. He’d paid for it, the farmer got damages, the pipeline company wouldn’t let him clear the right of way, and to add insult to injury, the standards for their access roads wasn’t near as stringent as for his!

Laying pipelines in country where there are steep grades, rock layers near the surface and karst limestone is not the same as laying pipe in deep soil, in relatively level country. When they have to anchor the backhoe digging the trench by running a cable to a dozer with its blade dug in upslope it’s not only life-threatening for the operators, but beyond restoration. I’ve seen rock-cutting grind wheels on dozers in place of the blade, and seen rock-cutting grind wheels on the arm of backhoes.

Tell me, when they cut a path up a hillside and lift the rock out, how are they going to fill back in? Keep in mind this is on slopes over 30 degrees, sometimes 60 degrees or more. I’ll tell you, they are going to throw back the big rough rock! So there is an underground channel four or more feet wide, perhaps eight feet deep carrying water below the surface. And there will be spots where the anti-rust coating on the outside is cut through. The diversion ditches on the uphill side simply dump storm water into the pipeline trench. God help the natives!

If much of the fill in those deep ditches is woods soil, it won’t be so hard on the pipe anti-rust coating, but will be constantly soft and if a long unsecured section will be inclined to slip out, with or without the pipe. At the bottom the water will come out and enter a natural stream. At this point the question becomes how to avoid sediment if the fill does stay in place. These big pipelines are hundreds of miles long and hundreds of ups and downs have draining streams. A lot of landscape is involved.

What about karst landscape? This is limestone, very hard to dig, but full of cracks through which slightly acid surface water sinks. In such places caves form, and collapse to make sinkholes. What will happen in such places where pipelines are laid? They will certainly affect drainage. And may cave in in sections.

These are generalizations easily ignored at the top office. They draw a line on the map where it will be allowed and make the most money. Engineers for the companies that do the work have their work cut out for them. The construction company has to agree to build it where the pipeline company wants it to go, or the pipeline company gets some other company to do the work. Then the engineers have to draw up the plans – or look for another job. Everybody is constrained to least cost. It is cheaper to not look at finer detail.

Then there is the minutia the engineers miss. A recent 36 inch pipe went a few miles west of where I live. Here are two examples of things I observed that the engineers ought to have known better. In one place instead of going to the bottom of a gully, they made a fill and put in a culvert, then laid the pipeline in the fill above the culvert. The watershed above the culvert is not so large the culvert won’t carry the water, but it is wooded. That means there will constantly be small branches washing down to block that culvert. If it isn’t checked several times a year it, it can get blocked and the fill washed so the pipe is exposed or even undercut.

Further south there is a place where that pipeline goes straight down a steep grade for a mile or more. Each of the storm water diversions goes the same distance off the line, so each one adds its load of diverted storm water to what has come from upslope. This will build up a large load tending to make a gulley.

Most folks have no idea of the scale of the pipelines, the compressor stations, the access roads, the rights of way. If you get fracking newsletters it helps.

Some have, lets say, contact with Marcellus Air which takes many, many quality aerial photographs of installations and wells and pipelines in progress. Many include enough of the surroundings to see the neighborhoods, pointing out schools, housing developments, where people are. These newsletters also regularly include photographs showing the pollutant haze that hangs over the Marcellus gas field.

You can go to Google Earth or Apple’s similar application and look for fracking damage in an area. I like the Apple app because the satellite photos are clear summer pictures, no clouds with leaves on. If you have it, try “Hurst Hollow Road.” It shows a compressor station in SW Harrison County, WV, with the recent pipeline installation, not yet grassed over. You can follow it miles north to Jarvisville, where there is another pump station, on north to the four lane US Route 50 west of Clarksburg. Here the line becomes less distinct. Reduce the scale and you can see the veins and pimples of fracking in many places on the countryside.

The reply from the big boys who play their profit game from air-conditioned rooms, mentioned above, would be, “Aahh, lots of trees left in the countryside!” But they ignore the fact the trees have a very important job: they provide oxygen and remove pollutants from the air, not the least of them carbon and nitrogen oxides. Each 44 tons of carbon dioxide they remove from the air provides 32 tons of pure oxygen. Twelve tons of carbon is stored in wood and the soil. Twenty five percent of what we humans put into the air is removed by trees now. They do it with free energy from the sun with no cost and no planning and no labor. Over a 50-year lifespan, a tree generates almost $32,000 worth of oxygen, providing $62,000 worth of air pollution control. Pretty good deal!

The Mountain Valley Pipeline will have no odorant. That means leaks cannot be smelled by locals living near it!

Think of the recent big explosion of the new LeachXPress pipeline that occurred near Moundsville WV after only 6 months after start up. It had recently had a “pig run,” a device sent through it to inspect it, and wasn’t even up to full operating pressure. The cause was a landslide where the pipeline traverses a steep hill. They lost $437,250 worth of gas. The Follansbee explosion of 2015 is blamed on a landslide, too.

Inspection of welds is a weak spot. Lots of welds, all around the pipe, in a ditch often on steep hillsides, must be very strong to hold natural gas at several tens of times atmospheric pressure.

This construction is useless when the gas is gone. In a few years grass and shrubs cover the pipeline right of way, but they don’t remove as much pollution from the air, and much of that goes back to carbon dioxide soon. It takes 70 years or more for mature trees to come back.

The access roads are covered deeply with crushed rock, as are the well pads. Those will be kept bare a decade or two, and many more decades will be required for establishment of new forest cover.

The pump stations will fall into disuse eventually. Maybe the heavy metal will be extracted for salvage, but the buildings will be abandoned, leaving the neighborhood a mess. The companies will go out of existence before proper reclamation, or they will be excused from reclamation. Like coal and railroads, the litter will dominate the neighborhoods indefinitely.

Enthusiasm wanes with time, as does profit. Investors move on and their gain can’t be tapped against the public loss and private loss, such as spoiled water wells and useless land. Loss of property value to individuals is over looked. Facts are distorted. Legislation is bought and lax enforcement is ignored.

We humans have seen environmental disaster before. But never before with climate change, exploding populations, world wide resource exhaustion, and misinformation on a colossal scale simultaneously. We have widely turned off citizens, too. How will it end? We can only guess, but it doesn’t look like there is any chance of a “soft landing.”

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See also a personal story now unfolding:

High up on a hill (With VIDEO)| register-herald.com

NGL to be collected from OH, WV & PA for foreign countries

From an Article by Bill Rettew, Daily Local News, West Chester, PA, March 19, 2018

EAST GOSHEN >> Sunoco Pipeline was found guilty March 13 in district court of exceeding allowable noise levels during pipeline construction.

District Judge Thomas Tartaglio, of District Court 15-1-02, found Sunoco guilty of exceeding permissible noise levels in a residential community on seven instances occurring between October 11 and December 15. The judge found in favor of Sunoco on two other dates.

The township financed a study by Pennoni, a noise testing service, to test at a site of drilling for the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline, near the Giant Market, at the Hershey’s Mill subdivision.

Sunoco was fined $1,000, plus costs, for each of seven violations for exceeding township ordinances limiting noise levels to 60 dBA, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The testimony presented by the testing firm showed that Sunoco was well over the threshold of the ordinance. Testing showed, noise levels reached more than 70 dBAs at the residential development.

Sunoco has attempted to remediate the situation by placing sound barriers at the site.

Township Supervisor Marty Shane said if Sunoco chooses it might appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. Depending on the outcome, either side might then appeal to Commonwealth Court.

“We had worked closely with Sunoco during the entire process,” Shane said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to cite them for the noise violations. “Our residents have been very patient; however, they are beginning to run out of patience.”

When asked for comment, Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields said that Sunoco Pipeline’s policy is to not comment on pending legal matters.

Plans call for the now-under-construction Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline to stretch 350 miles from Marcellus Shale deposits in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. The pipeline would carry highly volatile liquids within feet of senior care centers, schools and homes, through densely populated Delaware and Chester counties.

The Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy and Consumer Protection and Licensure Committees will hold a joint public hearing on pipeline safety, Tuesday, March 20 at 11 a.m.

The hearing will take place in Hearing Room No. 1 of the North Office Building in Harrisburg.

Mariner East 2 goes thru farmland & suburbs

XTO Fracked Gas Well Out of Control in Ohio Valley

From WTRF News 7, Wheeling, WV, February 24, 2018

POWHATAN POINT, Ohio ——————————————-

UPDATE 2/24:

XTO Energy’s well control team continues working to control the well while monitoring weather conditions to ensure safe operations as rain is expected throughout the day, according to XTO Energy officials.

Worker and residential safety remains a top priority, and the air monitoring continues without disruption. There are four homes that are still in the half-mile evacuation zone.

The claims office remains open, and claims adjusters and XTO representatives are on site to assist with the community’s needs.

Any local residents who may have been impacted by this incident are encouraged to call 855-351-6573 or visit XTO Energy’s community response command center at the Powhatan Point Volunteer Fire Department at 104 Mellott Street, Powhatan Point, OH, 43942.

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UPDATE 2/23:

According to XTO Energy officials, current weather conditions have slowed operations to contain the well, but XTO Energy’s well control team is continuing to work to get the well under control.

In these conditions, officials say that worker and residential safety remains a top priority. Four homes remain in the half-mile evacuation zone, and air monitoring will continue.

Any local residents who may have been impacted by this incident are encouraged to call (855) 351-6573 or visit XTO Energy’s command center at the Powhatan Point Volunteer Fire Department at 104 Mellott Street, Powhatan Point, OH 43942.

_______________________________________________

UPDATE:

According to a press release, XTO Energy crews have restored electricity to homes that lost power as a result of weekend flooding in Powhatan Point.

Now that power is restored, XTO Energy is working with residents in the cleared home to return at their convenience. Four homes remain in the half-mile evacuation zone.

The well control team is continuing to clear debris and made progress Tuesday in assessing the wells on the pad to safely stage the area to contain the well.

Ohio EPA and XTO Energy will continue to monitor air quality.

Any local residents who may have been impacted by this incident are encouraged to call XTO Energy’s claims phone number at 855-351-6573 or visit XTO Energy’s community response command center at the Powhatan Point Volunteer Fire Department, located at 104 Mellott Street, Powhatan Point, OH, 43942.

XTO representatives and claims adjusters are on site to assist with the community’s needs.

_______________________________________________

UPDATE:

Manager of Public and Government Affairs at XTO Energy, Karen Matusic, issued the following statement:

XTO Energy’s well control team has cleared a safe path to the pad and continues to work on clearing debris to stage the area for shutting in the well. On Monday, the evacuation zone was reduced to a half-mile radius of the well pad, with XTO Energy working with state and local agencies to conduct air quality tests at homes and around the perimeter to ensure safe re-entry. Crews are actively working to restore power to residences that lost power as a result of weekend flooding. Five homes remain in the evacuation zone. XTO Energy continues to work with the Ohio EPA to continue monitoring air quality. Any local residents who may have been impacted by this incident are encouraged to call XTO Energy’s claims phone number at 855-351-6573 or visit XTO Energy’s community response command center at the Powhatan Point Volunteer Fire Department, located at 104 Mellott Street, Powhatan Point, OH, 43942. XTO representatives and claims adjusters are on site to assist with the community’s needs.

_______________________________________________

UPDATE:

According to XTO officials, the evacuation has been lifted for anyone living outside of a 1/2-mile radius of the gas well pad.

If you have not been contacted by XTO Energy officials, you are urged to call (855) 351-6573 to schedule an appointment with a representative to go into your home and conduct a precautionary room-by-room air check.

Residents living inside of the 1/2-mile radius are not permitted to return to their homes.

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ORIGINAL:

Thirty homes remain evacuated as a result of the XTO gas well fire that happened last Thursday in Powhatan Point.

Officials with the company say they are working as quickly and safely as possible to get everyone and everything back to normal.

After monitoring the air quality along with the Ohio EPA, they are happy to report that they have not found any contaminants in the air. Officials are continuing to monitor the situation, and once they are certain that everything is under control, they plan to conduct air quality testing inside the homes affected.

XTO is continuing to reimburse and pay residents for the inconveniences related to the evacuation. If any resident is not returned to their home before school on Tuesday, XTO will arrange transportation to get them to school.

Claims adjusters are on site, or can be reached by phone at (855) 351-6573.

Experts from CUDD were finally able to get to the well pad on Sunday to remove debris from the explosion. The fire is reportedly out.

Brine Water Tanker Truck crashes & rolls off US Route 50 on Oct. 3, 2017

From an Article by Jeff Jenkins, MetroNews (WV), January 12, 2017

SALEM, W.Va. — A driver who heard the collision between two trucks on U.S. Route 50 in Harrison County Wednesday evening knew it was bad.

“It was so loud, even though the windows were up and I wasn’t there yet, you could still hear it,” Jason Barr told MetroNews. “It was big.”

Barr was traveling west after work at about 6 p.m. when the head-on crash between the pickup truck and flatbed commercial truck occurred. He quickly got out of his vehicle and tried to help the victims.

“The driver of the pick-up was the only one that had any type of responsiveness to him. He would just let out low-level moans with every time he breathed out. He couldn’t speak to us,” Barr said.

Harrison County Sheriff’s Department deputies said the driver was in critical condition at Ruby Memorial Hospital but the four others in the extended cab pickup, a man, woman, boy and girl, were killed.

Barr tried to help the two women in the back of the cab. He jumped up in the bed of the truck and reached through the broken out back window.

“There was no really obvious trauma signs really. I was doing the best I could to check for their pulse on their neck. I never did feel anything and this was just like seconds, ya know, after the crash,” Barr said.

The crash occurred near the Raccoon Run exit when the pickup, heading west, went through the median and into the path of the flatbed. Deputies suggested Thursday the state Division of Highways should consider a cable barrier for that stretch of highway.

“That is a right hand curve,” Barr said. “The pickup truck is headed west and if they would have hydroplaned a little bit it wouldn’t have took much to slide out of that curve and cross the median.”

The driver of the flatbed had been released from the hospital by Thursday afternoon.

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US Route 50 rerouted in Ritchie County after water truck accident

From an Article by Alex Wiederspiel, WV MetroNews, April 13, 2017

BOND’S CREEK, W.Va. — An accident late Wednesday night in Ritchie County will shut down a portion of US Route 50 west and east bound in Ritchie County for at least the rest of the day Thursday.

The Doddridge/Ritchie County 911 Center confirmed a water truck hit a guard rail on a bridge near Bond’s Creek on US Route 50 west bound. According to the Department of Highways, west and east bound lanes are closed. Traffic is being rerouted to WV Route 16.

The driver suffered undisclosed injuries. Dispatchers at the Doddridge/Ritchie 911 Center could not confirm what hospital treated the driver.

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Dump truck accident leaves one dead in Jefferson County

From an Article by Hans Fogle, WV MetroNews, September 29, 2017

MIDDLEWAY, W.Va. — An accident involving a dump truck and a passenger vehicle left one person dead in Jefferson County.

Authorities at the scene say the accident took place around 10 a.m. Thursday when the truck traveling west on Middleway Pike blew its front driver side tire, causing the driver to lose control. The dump truck was carrying a full load of gravel when it merged into the eastbound lane and rolled onto a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze.

Jack Dudley lives off Middleway Pike and told WEPM News he was checking his mailbox when he witnessed the accident. “I saw the truck tire blow and the car was passing me at the time when the truck tire blew,” Dudley said. “I saw the truck just swerve all over the road and land right on top of the car.”

Emergency crews respond to the scene of a fatal accident involving a dump truck. Sgt. Ronald Fletcher with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department told WEPM News there will be many factors in determining a cause of the accident.

“They’ll be looking at the tread on the vehicle, the load size, checking books and all of that,” Fletcher said.

There were two people in the Chevrolet when the crash occurred. The passenger was reportedly breathing and was airlifted to Innova Fairfax Hosiptal. Extraction took 40 minutes.

The driver of the Cruze was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the dump truck did receiver medical attention and was taken to a hospital with minor cuts and bruises. Five different fire departments responded to the accident as well as authorities from 3 different states.

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One person dead after brine water truck crash in Doddridge County

From an Article by Brittany Murray, WV MetroNews, October 3, 2017

SALEM, W.Va. — A brine water truck driver is dead following an accident on U.S. 50 in Doddridge County Tuesday.

The crash occurred on U.S. 50 eastbound between Tarklin Road and the West Salem exit. Dispatchers received the call about 11:40 a.m. The driver was traveling westbound near Tarklin Road when he crossed the median into the eastbound lanes. The truck appeared to have blown a tire.

Doddridge County Sheriff’s Department is continuing to investigate. Smithburg and Salem fire departments, Doddridge County Ambulance Authority and the Doddridge County OES director also responded.

NOTE: The name of the Pennsylvania man who died in this accident has not been released at this time. See the photo above.

Entire small town evacuated in SW Penna.

From an Article by Chuck Goudie and Barb Markoff and Christine Tresse, ABC Eyewitness News, August 03, 2017

An entire Pennsylvania town is still evacuated after a freight train from Chicago ran off the tracks and burst into flames.

At least 32 cars of a CSX freight train derailed an hour before sunrise on Wednesday. Two of the rail tankers, carrying propane and molten sulfur according to investigators, burst into flames. CSX officials said authorities were letting fires burn out, as the 800 residents of Hyndman were jolted from their sleep and then evacuated.

Some people refused to leave their homes according to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, even though they were living within the danger zone. No injuries have been reported.

The train was headed from Chicago to Selkirk, New York near Albany when it derailed and caught fire. Investigators said they didn’t know what caused the train to run off the rails.

“CSX’s top priority is to work cooperatively with first responders and other officials to protect the public’s safety” said railroad spokesman Rob Doolittle. “CSX personnel are on the scene assisting first responders, providing information about the contents of the train and expertise on responding to railroad incidents,” Doolittle said.

There have been more than 1000 freight train derailments in each of the last two years, according to federal railway safety records. Through May of 2017 there have been 455 freight train derailments in the U.S., some of them involving hazardous materials.

The train that ran off the tracks in Pennsylvania on Wednesday included five locomotives and 178 rail cars total. Of those, 128 cars were carrying mixed freight, including construction materials, paper and wood pulp along with the flammable materials that are burning. Authorities also reported 50 empty rail cars on the train.

The wreckage appears similar to so-called “bomb trains” first reported by the I-Team more than four years ago involving crude oil transports. While it is not believed that the train in Pennsylvania was carrying crude oil, there do appear to be numerous tanker cars derailed and piled up along the tracks.

Since the DOT-111 tankers were found to be prone to splitting during derailment, U.S. and Canadian regulators have ordered strict new crashworthiness standards. The move followed a July 2013 oil tanker derailment that wiped out downtown Lac Megantic, Canada and left 47 people dead.

In May 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration and Transport Canada announced specs for a new DOT-117 tanker that would have to be in place by May 2025.