PA DEP Issues Notice of Violation to JKLM Energy for Spilled Soap
On Monday MDN told you about an accident in Sweden Township (Potter County), PA where JKLM Energy released soap into a water aquifer while trying to fish out a broken drill bit from a Utica Shale bore hole (see JKLM Energy Accident Contaminates 5 PA Water Wells with Soap). The soap migrated into five nearby water wells. JKLM promised to provide daily updates on the situation and their progress with correcting the soap leak, and they’ve kept their word. Our previous post brought you all of the updates through Sept. 27. This post brings you the updates from Sept. 28 through yesterday, Oct. 1. We also have more news about the accident: the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection has issued a notice of violation because of the accident. No word yet on how much money spilling 55 gallons of soap into a water aquifer is going to cost JKLM, but you can be sure it won’t be cheap. Here’s the latest on the accident…
Read More “PA DEP Issues Notice of Violation to JKLM Energy for Spilled Soap”
A truck driver hauling coiled tubing (pipe) used for fracking had an unfortunate run-in with a railroad overpass in Columbiana County, OH. The railroad bridge running over State Route 558 in Fairfield Township is just 13 feet high. The coiled tubing on the back of the truck was higher, and the driver didn’t realize it. So when he went under the overpass, it literally pulled it off and dumped it across the highway. Oops…
It’s always a sad day when MDN has to report on the death of a worker related to the Marcellus/Utica Shale. On Tuesday, Ricky Dettman was operating a bulldozer on a steep grade in Tioga County, PA working on installing a pipeline for Energy Transfer Partners when the bulldozer rolled over, several times, killing Ricky. We’re not sure exactly which pipeline project it is Ricky was working on, but its a 36-inch pipeline (a big pipeline) that will flow Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, according to the PR agency working for ETP. Below are four news accounts of the accident. They all have slightly different accounts, including a discrepancy on Ricky’s age–he was either 54 or 55 years-old. Ricky hailed from Nebraska…
There was a rupture of a gas pipeline at a Jay-Bee Oil and Gas drill pad in the Big Run area of Tyler County, WV early Friday morning. There was no explosion, and no one was injured–but there was a fire and the fire could be seen for miles in the dark early morning. The fire from the ruptured pipe (cause still being investigated) burned for an hour before it was extinguished. The wells on the pad are currently shut-in while the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection investigates. This is not the first Jay-Bee accident in the Big Run area…
In February 2014 there was an explosion and fire at a Chevron well pad that eventually spread from one Marcellus well to a second well on the same well pad in Greene County, PA (see 
Traffic along an extended stretch of two Ohio highways in Columbiana County, OH was closed for nearly five hours on April 23 because a drilling rig that was moved leaked “a mineral-based synthetic, a non-hazardous drilling oil compound” for 27 miles as it was moved. Ouch. Somebody’s head will roll. The rig was being moved by a contractor for Chesapeake Energy. You might think somebody would notice something leaking over the course of 27 bloody miles! But apparently not. Fortunately the fluid/oil was not toxic or dangerous in any way, other than perhaps slipping on it…
Yesterday MDN alerted you to the coming buzz saw of media lies about a new study that reportedly shows three Pennsylvania water wells that may have been contaminated by nearby fracking operations (see