boom

There have been several gas related disasters recently. Friday the 4th a gas well being fracked in Clearfield PA exploded releasing a million gallons of fluid and natural gas. On the morning of Monday the 7th a well being drilled in West Virginia exploded injuring 7. That afternoon a pipe line in Texas was struck by utility workers and exploded, throwing one victim 600 feet. Tuesday a pipe line exploded when a sub-contractor working near by struck the pipe line with a bulldozer, again in Texas.

We are just entering the "Boom" phase now in our area and many residents are excited by the money being waived in their faces. Yet at the same time we are hearing from people in a later phase of this process warning us that the money does not cover the expenses in the long run.

How many booms do you need to hear to know whats coming?

Clearfield PA just suffered a horrible disaster. A natural gas well exploded during Fracking. This sent natural gas and fracking fluid spewing into the air. a 1 mile radius has been evacuated. The FAA has issued an advisory. If this were to have been our Crum site my family would now be evacuated. The Delaware River would now be poisoned. Our air would likely be toxic for some time. The emotional damage from such a traumatic event is immeasurable. 17,000,000 peoples water would have fracking fluid in it.

here is a story from WJAC TV:

Natural Gas, Drilling Fluids Spewing From Clearfield County Well

Gas Well Leak - June 4, 2010

Updated: 1:09 pm EDT June 4, 2010

CLEARFIELD COUNTY, Pa. -- Pennsylvania environmental officials said natural gas and polluted drilling water are pouring from an out-of-control well in rural Clearfield County.A one-mile radius of Moshannon State Forest was evacuated Friday morning after a gas well ruptured near the Punxsutawney Hunting Club.The leak happened at a Marcellus drilling operation on McGeorge Road in the forest. The gas well is owned by EOG Resources Inc., officials said.Around 10:30 a.m., officials were checking camps to make sure all campers were evacuated around the site of the leak. Officials said they were dealing with gas leaking into the air.According to state Rep. Bud George's office, initial reports from Process Equipment Manufacturers' Association said three of four wells were secured. The other well was releasing frack water and unignited wet gas, which caused the evacuation. Officials said an estimated 1 million gallons of frack water was uncontrolled as of 11 a.m. in the area of exit 111 on Interstate 80.Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is the process of blasting millions of gallons of water deep underground to break up the shale and release the gas. Most of the frack water stays underground, but what comes up must be treated or disposed of in approved facilities.In addition to the Emergency Management Agency and Department of Environmental Protection, teams from Texas were called to help control the situation and a command trailer was set up.Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials said a portion of Route 153/Forestry Road was closed to traffic but there were no other major road closures.According to the Associated Press, Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Dan Spadoni said no one has been reported injured and the drilling water hasn't reached a waterway. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a flight restriction in the immediate area shortly after 11 a.m. Spadoni said the accident happened late Thursday night when unexpectedly high gas pressure in the newly drilled well prevented crews from containing it. He said emergency crews have been at the scene all morning and companies that specialize in out-of-control wells are on site. He says there are no homes within a mile.Stay with WJACTV.com and WJAC-TV News for continuing coverage as details become available.

Copyright 2010 by WJACTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Teeple

We drove by the Teeple site yesterday. The pad is in there and the first drilling rig is up and running. The site is directly on Route 191 just a few miles south of Equinunk. There is a private security force at the driveway. I took a few pictures of the site on our way to Equinunk and a few more an hour later as we returned from Equinunk. There was a water tanker truck exiting the compound as we passed by the second time. A semi-trailer tanker truck out of Honesdale from a water hauling company with the name of "Aqua-Duck".

wide

The driveway for the Crum well was staked out Friday. Looks to be an 100' wide road cut on High Bridge Road. The driveway, as staked, cuts diagonally from the road up hill, thru some trees and into the field. It looks to run about 1500' to the pad site.

The field was cut for hay over the weekend, making me think the pad construction would begin this week. Bad weather today may have held it off, we will see.

This field was so beautiful over the weekend, it is hard to imagine what it will look like spewing rock dust and laden with a containment pond.

smooth

road improvements continue today at High Bridge Road. A few high spots need to be graded out to help long trucks and semi-trailer trucks navigate the road. I was stopped for 5 minutes waiting for a load of stone to be spread out over a low area.

This all means one thing. The heavy equipment and high volume traffic is coming shortly. This industry does not take days off. It could be tomorrow that the next phase begins.

This morning I stopped off to look at the field where the Crum gas well is supposed to go. It is an old field, much like many in the area, I think it gets cut for hay twice a year, depending on the rains. The field is bordered on one side by the road and the other by the woods that lead into a steep hill. I noticed about half way between the road and the woods an orange piece of tape on a wood stake, much like a surveyors flag. Perhaps this is where the well pad is staked out to be? The ditch at the side of the road has a series of small red flags along it on wire sticks, these are new also.

Just across the road from the field the earth slopes dramatically down to the Creek. This is the North Branch of the Calkins Creek. It runs from here directly into the Delaware River less than a mile away. This is a big creek that flows all year, it is very strong at times and has wiped out bridges during times of flood. I wonder if it would be a good source for a million gallons of water?

5-0

So i just hung up with the PA state police motor carriers division. They were returning my call regarding bridge weight limit violations. According to Tr. Pace he has been trying in vain to get a hold of the Twp Highway dpt. for a week now. At my request, he was looking into posted weight limit violations in Damascus Twp. He told me that the Twp was stonewalling him and had no interest in helping him.

In general in order for a bridge weight limit to be enforced it must be posted up to todays standards, an engineering report must be on file for that bridge, and public notice must be made that that bridge will now be enforced with regards to weight limits.

Damascus has failed to upgrade it's bridge signage as modern requirements have evolved and as a result the bridges that are posted with weight limits are not enforceable.