DEP Issues Final Report – What Caused Chevron Well Fire?
In early February, a well already drilled and completed by Chevron in Greene County, PA was in the process of being connected to a pipeline system. The well caught fire and exploded, eventually spreading to a second well close by (see Explosion & Fire at Chevron Well in SWPA – 1 Person Missing). The fire and explosion killed a worker at the site, a contractor with Cameron International (see Remains of Chevron Contractor Found at Greene County Well Site). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection did a thorough investigation and has just released its After Action Review of the incident (below). Here, in a nutshell, is what the DEP says caused the fire and death…
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On Monday MDN told you about three families near a WPX Energy wastewater impoundment near Ligonier (Westmoreland County), PA who say their well water has been contamined by frack wastewater leaking from the impoundment (see 
Three families near a WPX Energy wastewater impoundment near Ligonier (Westmoreland County), PA say their well water has been contamined by wastewater leaking from the impoundment. The case is just coming to light (at least for MDN) although the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has known and has investigated the “leaky impoundment” for going on two years now…
Range Resources built an open-air frack wastewater and brine impoundment in Amwell Township (Washington County), PA in 2009–the Jon Day Impoundment. At the time, they installed a monitoring system under the impoundment to alert them (and the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection) in case the impoundment–essentially a big pond with a rubber liner–sprung a leak. The monitoring system included 4-inch perforated pipes under the impoundment located inside trenches of gravel. The theory was/is if anything leaks, it will hit one of those pipes and come out the end. According to the DEP the monitoring system was “over and above” DEP requirements at the time. Unfortunately, the monitoring system somewhere along the way failed and the impoundment sprung a leak and now we have some 15,000 tons of “contaminated” soil which has nearly all been removed from the site…