Accidents

Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Washington County (OH)

5 People Critically Injured Plugging Old Well in Ohio Wayne NF
August 27, 2025August 27, 2025

A crew from Monroe Drilling Operations, LLC, was working on an abandoned well located in Wayne National Forest (in Washington County, OH) on Monday morning when natural gas and crude oil traveled up through the well to the surface and ignited, causing an explosion. In addition to the five members of Monroe Drilling, a mineral resources inspector from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was also on-site. All six people on-site were injured by the blast, with five of the six “critically injured.” Please offer a prayer for those who were injured. Read More “5 People Critically Injured Plugging Old Well in Ohio Wayne NF”
Accidents | Energy Services | Eureka Resources | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

PA DEP Orders Eureka Resources to Remove Waste at Williamsport Plant
August 25, 2025August 25, 2025

Just as we were heading out the door last week for a couple of days off, news broke that a now-idled frack wastewater treatment plant, a Eureka Resources facility in Williamsport, PA, had sprung a leak in a tank and that some of the fluid had entered a storm drain, making its way to the Susquehanna River (see ‘Black Goop’ Spills into Susquehanna River from Closed Eureka Plant). We have updates to that story, including administrative orders logged against Eureka by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and news that the DEP had issued a notice of violation against the facility just 10 days before the leak occurred. Read More “PA DEP Orders Eureka Resources to Remove Waste at Williamsport Plant”
Accidents | Energy Services | Eureka Resources | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

‘Black Goop’ Spills into Susquehanna River from Closed Eureka Plant
August 19, 2025August 19, 2025

Once upon a time, Eureka Resources operated three shale wastewater recycling facilities in the Marcellus region, one in Bradford County, PA, and two in the Williamsport, PA, area (Lycoming County). One year ago, MDN brought you the news that Eureka had “temporarily” closed the Bradford site and had permanently closed the two sites in Williamsport (see Eureka Temporarily Idles Bradford County Shale Wastewater Plant). In June, MDN reached out to the company for comment on why it had not resumed operation at the Bradford site. We got no response. Now comes word that one of the closed facilities in Williamsport is leaking an “oily substance” that found its way into a storm drain and from there, into the nearby Susquehanna River. A fisherman reported it looked like a “black goop” when reeling in his line. Read More “‘Black Goop’ Spills into Susquehanna River from Closed Eureka Plant”
Accidents | Cambria County | Crime | Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Pa. AG Files Criminal Charges Against Equitrans for 2022 Accident
July 25, 2025July 25, 2025

Pennsylvania’s Republican Attorney General, Dave Sunday, has turned out to be a MAJOR disappointment. Yesterday, Sunday’s office filed 14 criminal counts against Equitrans Midstream (now owned and part of EQT Corporation) for an accident that happened in 2022. In November 2022, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County, began to leak. Equitrans is the owner/operator of Rager Mountain. The well leaked roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see Equitrans Gas Storage Well in Cambria County, PA is Leaking). Read More “Pa. AG Files Criminal Charges Against Equitrans for 2022 Accident”
Accidents | Bradford County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Repsol | Wastewater

Repsol Continues Cleanup at Bradford Pad, No Stream Impacts
July 25, 2025July 25, 2025

Overview of the current material recovery around the 7H wellhead, material is being piled for removal offsite (PA DEP)

Earlier this week, MDN brought you the news about an “uncontrolled release” of production fluid at a Repsol well in northeastern Pennsylvania (see Uncontrolled Release of Wastewater at Repsol Pad in Bradford County). The fluid escaped secondary containment and specially-constructed gravel berms set up and poured over into the surrounding environment at Repsol’s 7H gas well on the Broadleaf Holdings pad in Troy Township, Bradford County. The uncontrolled release went on for 34 hours until a second plug was installed to stop the flow. Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) did a follow-up inspection. Fortunately, there have been no significant impacts on nearby streams. Read More “Repsol Continues Cleanup at Bradford Pad, No Stream Impacts”
Accidents | Bradford County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Repsol | Wastewater

Uncontrolled Release of Wastewater at Repsol Pad in Bradford County
July 21, 2025July 21, 2025

Fluid held in the western corner of the Repsol 7H well pad

Just coming to light (for us) is an incident with a Repsol well in northeastern Pennsylvania. At approximately 6:30 p.m. on July 13, 2025, Repsol reported an “uncontrolled release of produced fluid” at the company’s 7H shale gas well on the Broadleaf Holdings pad in Troy Township, Bradford County. The fluid escaped secondary containment and specially-constructed gravel berms set up and poured over into the surrounding environment. The uncontrolled release went on for 34 hours until a second plug was installed to stop the flow. Read More “Uncontrolled Release of Wastewater at Repsol Pad in Bradford County”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Seneca Resources | Tioga County (PA) | Wastewater

Seneca Works to Clean Up Wastewater Spill at Tioga Co. Well Pad
July 7, 2025July 7, 2025

Seneca Resources continues to clean up spilled wastewater at a pad in Charleston Township (Tioga County), PA. The Vandergrift 290 pad hosts six wells, four of which are active and producing, one of which is now plugged, and another is in the process of being plugged. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reports active remediation efforts have continued for more than 30 days after a large wastewater spill was discovered. An initial DEP inspection of the site on May 13 (prompted by a complaint) found two large areas of “distressed” vegetation with evidence of a wastewater release. Read More “Seneca Works to Clean Up Wastewater Spill at Tioga Co. Well Pad”
Accidents | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

PA DEP Says Shell Ethane Plant Fire May Have Released Carcinogens
June 6, 2025June 6, 2025

Footage of Shell’s ethane cracker in Monaca, Pa. shows smoke coming off the site. Image: Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community

Another incident happened Wednesday afternoon at the Shell ethane cracker plant facility in Beaver County, PA. This isn’t the first problem at the plant (see our cracker problem stories here). An explosion and fire (with smoke) were reported at the ethane cracker on Wednesday. A company spokesperson stated that smoke was seen coming off of a furnace unit at the plant around 2:20 p.m. She said the incident was managed by site personnel, and the smoke dissipated. However, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a concern that “a possible release of an unknown amount of 1,3-butadiene and benzene” —both hazardous air pollutants and known carcinogens (cancer-causing). Read More “PA DEP Says Shell Ethane Plant Fire May Have Released Carcinogens”
Accidents | CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

3 Years Later, Freeport LNG Returns LNG Storage Tank to Service
May 22, 2025May 22, 2025

Freeport LNG’s export terminal with three liquefaction “trains” completely shut down (all three trains) in June 2022 after an explosion and fire (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). What was initially thought to be a three-week outage lasted for ten months. The plant finally returned online in March 2023 (see Freeport LNG Plant Back to Full Capacity Using 2.1 Bcf/d of NatGas). Since that time, one or more Freeport trains have been offline more times than we can count. Freeport announced yesterday that, finally, after three years, it has restored full operations to the last remaining component that was still offline since 2022—an LNG storage tank. Read More “3 Years Later, Freeport LNG Returns LNG Storage Tank to Service”
Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Tioga County (PA) | Trucking | Wastewater

Truck Hauling Frack Wastewater Overturns in Tioga County, PA
May 14, 2025May 14, 2025

Tioga County, PA

On Monday, a tanker truck carrying fracking wastewater rolled 100 feet down an embankment in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, spilling about 2,000 gallons of flowback (brine) into a nearby stream. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the truck left the road and flipped onto its side into a small stream. About half of its load leaked out from the top hatch of the tank. The truck driver was not injured in the accident. Read More “Truck Hauling Frack Wastewater Overturns in Tioga County, PA”
Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Westmoreland County

Tank Explosion at Westmoreland County Conventional Well Site
March 31, 2025March 31, 2025

Production storage tank

On March 25, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was called to the scene of a conventional well explosion in East Huntingdon Township in Westmoreland County. The explosion involved a production storage tank at the pad. The incident happened around 10:25 AM when the well tender was “blowing out the well” to the storage tank (we’ll explain). A “well tender” refers to the person responsible for the day-to-day monitoring, routine maintenance, and operation of a well site after it has been drilled and completed. Read More “Tank Explosion at Westmoreland County Conventional Well Site”
Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Freak Accident Ignites Conventional Natural Gas Well in SW Pa.
March 25, 2025March 25, 2025

Photos from accident report, courtesy of PA Environment Digest Blog (click for larger version)

A one-in-a-million, freaky-deaky accident happened in Westmoreland County, PA, that caused a conventional natural gas well operated by Kriebel Natural Gas Co. to explode. On March 19, a truck was hauling a trailer down nearby Interstate 76 Eastbound. The wheel/rim set (with brake drum and tires still attached) disconnected from the trailer and went flying. It hit the conventional gas well. The impact broke off the casing annulus wing from the well head and caused escaping natural gas to ignite. Read More “Freak Accident Ignites Conventional Natural Gas Well in SW Pa.”
Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | Wastewater

Small Wastewater Spill at Coterra Energy Well Pad in Northeast Pa.
March 3, 2025March 3, 2025

Bridgewater Township

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reports an estimated 300 barrels (12,600 gallons) of brine wastewater leaked at the Diaz Family Shale Gas Drilling Well Pad 2 owned by Coterra Energy, Inc. in Bridgewater Township, Susquehanna County. Unfortunately, some of the fluid escaped containment and seeped into surrounding areas outside the well pad. The incident was discovered on Wednesday, Feb. 19. What happened? Read More “Small Wastewater Spill at Coterra Energy Well Pad in Northeast Pa.”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Harrison County | HG Energy | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

HG Energy Well Fire Near Jane Lew, WV Quickly Extinguished
January 27, 2025January 27, 2025

A fire was reported at a natural gas well near Jane Lew (Harrison County), WV, on Saturday at around 2:15 pm. Multiple fire departments responded. One media report says the well location is listed as the Stickel Pad belonging to driller HG Energy. There were no injuries, according to 911 officials. The fire was extinguished within a few hours. Other than those barebones facts and a few photos (below), that’s all we know about this incident. The incident doesn’t seem to be a priority for local news media outlets to cover. Read More “HG Energy Well Fire Near Jane Lew, WV Quickly Extinguished”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation

Gulfport Energy Well Explodes in Guernsey County, OH – No Injuries
January 6, 2025January 6, 2025

Gulfport Goh pad fire (credit: Antrim Volunteer Fire Department)

Around 5:37 p.m. last Thursday, an explosion and fire at a well pad in Guernsey County, Ohio, resulted in a half-mile evacuation around the site. No extensive damage and no injuries were reported according to a local fire official. According to a statement issued by Gulfport Energy, a storage tank ignited that was located at the Groh pad, a pad drilled in 2012 (14 years ago). The local Antrim fire department (that responded) is located about 1.5 miles from the pad. Salt Fork State Park is 5.7 miles away, which local antis are having a hay day with. Read More “Gulfport Energy Well Explodes in Guernsey County, OH – No Injuries”
Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

NW Pa. Injection Well Leak Went Undiscovered for 109 Days
November 20, 2024November 20, 2024

MDN is going to eat some crow with this story. In 2016, we called attention to efforts by neighbors (and anti-fossil fuelers) in Warren County, PA, in testing water sources near a wastewater injection well that had been operating since 2013 (see Concerned Citizens Test Water Near NWPA Injection Well, No Leaks). There had been no leaks from the Bear Lake Properties Bittinger #4 oil and gas wastewater injection well site in Columbus Township for (at that time) three years. We pointed out that injection well leaks are rare. However, there has been a leak at the Bittinger #4 well, and it was a doozy, traveling approximately 1,770 feet from the well site. That’s a full one-third of a mile. Not good. Even worse is that the company (due to an errant employee) failed to report the leak to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for 109 days. Read More “NW Pa. Injection Well Leak Went Undiscovered for 109 Days”