Unrelated Explosions at OH Utica Well Pad, WV Brine Plant
We have two explosions and resulting fires to tell you about–neither related to the other, except they happened two days apart and maybe one hour’s drive apart (as the crow flies). The first was an explosion and fire at the Fairmont Brine Processing facility in Fairmont (Marion County), WV, on May 30. The second was an explosion and fire at a Utica Shale well pad owned by Utica Resources near Lore City (Guernsey County), OH, on June 1. Both appear to be accidents. The only injury reported was a minor injury at the Utica well pad site (a worker on-site refused treatment). The main concern was that the brine treatment plant may have stored or handled radioactive material. The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) tested and found no radioactive contamination had spread from the fire.
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Just nine new permits to drill shale wells were issued across the three Marcellus/Utica states for Sept. 26 to Oct. 2. Pennsylvania turned in the second week in a row of very low new permits–just three issued, all of them to different companies in different counties. Ohio issued just four new permits, with two of them going to Encino Energy in Carroll County. And West Virginia issued just two new permits, both to Southwestern Energy in Brooke County.
The province of Quebec, Canada, with a huge supply of Utica Shale gas sitting beneath it, passed a new law in April–Bill 21–outlawing all oil and natural gas production throughout the province (see 
In October the province of Quebec, Canada announced it will expropriate all of the rights for all oil and gas companies in the province to drill and extract oil and natural gas (see 
Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 permits to drill new shale wells. Most of the permits went to two well pads, one in Butler County drilled by PennEnergy Resources and the other in Tioga County drilled by Repsol. Ohio issued six new permits, three to Encino Energy, two to Utica Resource Operating, and one to Ascent Resources. West Virginia, for the second week in a row, issued just one new permit. Last week’s WV permit went to Tug Hill Operating in Marshall County.