Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/public/wp-config.php on line 27
2011 April 21 — Why Now?
On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog
Random header image... Refresh for more!

Don’t Worry, Be Happy Pennsylvania

So, a fracking gas driller in Western Pennsylvania has a well blowout on the anniversary of the Well from Hell, but this isn’t really a problem. There’s no need for closer inspection or tighter regulation.

Laura Legere of the Scranton Times-Tribune provides an update on the Bradford County, PA gas well blowout

Thousands of gallons of natural gas drilling waste fluids spilled onto a farm and streams for more than 12 hours Wednesday after a driller in Bradford County lost control of a well late Tuesday.

The Atgas 2H well operated by Chesapeake Energy Corp. in LeRoy Twp. blew out during the hydraulic fracturing process at around 11:45 p.m., swamping the lined well pad and overflowing into a field, a small tributary and Towanda Creek, state environmental regulators said.

Emergency crews were able to stop the fluid from flowing into Towanda Creek by Wednesday afternoon, but crews struggled to regain control of the well into Wednesday evening. The-well control specialty firm Boots and Coots was brought to the site from Texas, Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Katy Gresh said.

“Evidently the crack is in the top part of the well below the blowout preventer,” Skip Roupp, the deputy director of the Bradford County Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday afternoon, referring to a device used in emergency situations to choke off flow from a well. “They don’t really know what happened yet because they don’t have it controlled yet.”

The well casing is busted below the BOP, and they have brought in one of the best known [and most expensive] well control specialists in the world, but people shouldn’t worry? The drilling fluids flowed into a tributary of the Susquehanna River, so they can poison the Chesapeake Bay seafood.

When do they call Halliburton to cement the well?

April 21, 2011   Comments Off on Don’t Worry, Be Happy Pennsylvania

Invest 91

Invest 91 is in the Atlantic between Puerto Rico and Bermuda, but the wind shear is extremely high and the sea surface temperatures are only marginal, so no development is expected.

Currently the models have it heading Southwest and then curving to end up going Northeast. The curve could take it close to the Bahamas and the coast of North Carolina, but rain is about all that can be expected.

April 21, 2011   3 Comments