Fracking well blowout forces evacuation of 400 families

[RiverLover]

Most allowed back home after fracking-well blowout in eastern Ohio
The Columbus Dispatch • Thursday October 30, 2014

"From his fishing boat on a rural Jefferson County pond, Mike Poole could see the natural-gas wellhead less than a tenth of a mile away. Poole spent part of his Tuesday afternoon on that boat with a friend and his dog. The well, at that time, was just part of the landscape.

By Tuesday evening, though, it had forced him from his home in Bloomingdale, Ohio.

Poole, who lives less than a mile from the well, was one of about 400 families to be evacuated after the well ruptured on Tuesday night, spewing natural gas and methane into the air.

…Poole spent the night with family in a nearby village. The experience left him worried for his home and for the woods and lakes where he likes to hunt, hike and fish.

“They’re telling everybody, ‘Oh, this is perfectly, 100 percent safe, it’s safe safe safe safe, it’s not hurting the water, it’s not hurting the air,’  ” he said. “Well, why were we evacuated last night?”

He questioned why American Energy Partners hadn’t trained emergency responders in Ohio, rather than relying on a team that had to be flown in from Texas.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/29/well_explosion.html

What isn't reported here is what went into the water & soil, & how much.

[RiverLover]

1. Ohio also had a toxic pipeline explosion this week

That burnt up some woods. Again, no word on the environmental impact.

Toxic Mix From Ohio Fracking Pipeline Catches Fire
Laura Arenschield On Oct 29, 2014
Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

"Oct. 29--A pipeline carrying condensate, a toxic substance produced during natural gas and oil processing, caught fire in eastern Ohio early this morning.

It burned several acres of Monroe County woodland before the pipeline pressure dropped low enough for the fire to burn itself out.

No one was injured, and no residents had to leave their homes, said Phillip Keevert, Monroe County's Emergency Management Agency director.

Keevert said the fire started sometime after 2 a.m. near Cameron, in the eastern part of Monroe County and about 130 miles east of Columbus.

It burned for several hours. Firefighters left the scene around 7:30 a.m.

The line that caught fire was an 8-inch-diameter pipe that runs between eastern Ohio and a natural-gas processing plant in Natrium, W.Va., which is about 30 miles south of Wheeling along the Ohio River."

http://www.firehouse.com/news/11749201/toxic-mix-from-monroe-county-ohio-fracking-pipeline-catches-fire

[Turbineguy]

2. Training local responders

is like admitting it could happen.

[LiberalEsto]

3. and how much CO2 and methane got released into the air we breathe.

If companies insist on fracking, their executives and families should be forced to live on the fracking sites.

[RiverLover]

4. They should!! And drink water from a nearby well...

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Winning environmental converts, one disaster at a time.

Hope someone points out the politics of this, so close to election day.

[RiverLover]

6. Not too many pro-environment people to vote for in Ohio ~nt