Monday, May 16, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Laura Olson
Three weeks after the gas-well blowout at one of its Bradford County sites, Chesapeake Energy announced it will resume well-completion operations in Pennsylvania.
The company had voluntarily halted hydraulic fracturing and other procedures to prepare a well for production following an April 19 accident. As workers attempted to seal that well, briny wastewater spilled for several hours into a nearby creek tributary.
Chesapeake's well-completion work resumed in late April at its West Virginia and Ohio sites, but sites here remained idle as state Department of Environmental Protection officials sorted through company paperwork detailing what happened.
DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said the agency also was waiting on "assurances" from Chesapeake that they would use local well-control specialists if the company has an accident requiring such assistance. In the Bradford incident, the company called the Houston-based company Boots and Coots, who did not arrive on the scene for 12 hours.
Ms. Gresh said Chesapeake agreed to local well-control specialists in the future, which the company also noted in its statement.
The company attributed the accident's cause to a faulty connection at the wellhead, which allowed fluid to be released. They described the valve failure as "extremely rare," adding that they have since inspected their wellheads and updated how the equipment is assembled.
"We understand that operating in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a privilege," said John Reinhart, Chesapeake's vice president of operations for its eastern division. "We have learned from this and have taken steps to mitigate the risk of this type of event happening in the future."
Of the wastewater that spilled off the well pad, Chesapeake officials said about 240 barrels of "a mixture of well fluid and rain water" flowed onto nearby land and into a small tributary. They estimated that figure included one barrel's worth of highly diluted chemical additives used in hydraulic fracturing.
The spill caused "minimal and localized impact" to the environment, according to the company. They said a small farm pond near the well was drained, and the water treated at a Chesapeake wastewater recycling facility. DEP officials also have reported that an unknown number of amphibians died in the pond.
State environmental officials have not yet issued any fines or violations in response to the incident. Ms. Gresh said the DEP investigation is ongoing.
Copyright (c) 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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