A Chesapeake spokesperson stated that the cause of the well blowout in Bradford County appears to be a failure of a flange connection to the well head on the surface and there is no evidence of any problems with the well itself.  The well blowout occurred on April 19th and spewed thousands of gallons of frack water into a trout stream and tributary to the Susquehanna River,  Towanda Creek, for more than half a day before it was diverted.

The state Department of Environmental Protection sent a letter to Chesapeake on April 22 asking the company to provide information surrounding the incident, including the cause of the accident, the contents of the fracking fluid that spilled and an explanation for why Chesapeake took 12 hours to address the uncontrolled leak. The department said it has received and is reviewing Chesapeake’s response but is yet to make it public.

Chesapeake suspended fracking operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia during the investigation of the cause.  Chesapeake has not set a date for the resumption of fracking in those states. Full story

A press relesase by Chesapeake says, “Chesapeake has voluntarily suspended all completion operations in Pennsylvania as we evaluate this incident.” Ken Ward reported in his Sustained Outrage blog “Rory Sweeney, a spokesman for Chesapeake, just clarified that Chesapeake has halted  “fracking” operations at all of its eastern operations,including in West Virginia, while it investigates the Pennsylvania incident.”

Thousands of gallons of toxic frack fluid flowed into a stream in Bradford County, Pa after a Chesapeake well blowout that began at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.  It took till mid-afternoon Wednesday for Chesapeake’s crews to stop the fracturing fluid from running into a nearby tributary of Towanda Creek — a state-designated trout stock fishery that eventually flows into the Susquehanna River.  Seven families who live adjacent to the site in Leroy were evacuated as a precaution, and a local farmer was told to not let his cows drink surface water on his farm, officials said.

Read more: Post Gazette story, 4-21-11