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April 2014

4/11/2014

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April 30-A CSX train carrying fracked crude oil derails and bursts into flames in downtown Lynchburg, VA, spilling oil into the James River and forcing hundreds to evacuate. [video]
April 30- Two oil workers die and nine others are injured in an explosion at a RKI Exploration and Production well site in West Texas. Loving County Sheriff Billy Hopper says the workers were operating a rig that separates production fluids, such as oil from water.
April 27- Zachary Buckles, 20, of Glasgow, Mont, dies at a Continental well site 5 miles south of Williston, ND of apparent H2S gas exposure. This is the 38th oilfield death investigated by OSHA since fiscal year 2010.
April 25-Eight families sue a natural gas company for personal injuries they attribute to fracking operations in AK.
April 25-Four people are injured, due to a lightning strike a Southwestern Energy gas drilling site in Faulkner County, AK.
April 23-Around 20 garbage cans full of illegally dumped oil filter socks are been found north of Crosby, ND. 
April 23-An explosion at a Williams natural gas processing plant Opal, Wyo. causes the evacuation of the town.  
April 22-A six-person Dallas jury awards a middle-class north Texas ranching family nearly $3 million from Aruba Petroleum Inc. company whose drilling caused years of sickness, killed pets and livestock, and forced them out of their home for months.
April 18-500 tons of soil is removed after a “significant leak” is discovered at a frack pond operated by Range Resources.  There are questions as to whether or the DEP was properly notified. 
April 10-Chevron is cited with nine violations for their February gas well explosion in Greene County, PA including one count of refusing to allow state investigators onto the property, in violation of oil and gas laws.
April 9-High pressure causes approximately 650 barrels of oil and 450 barrels of brine to spill from a tank on an Oasis Petroleum site in ND.
April 9-A substance used to give natural gas its odor leaks from a dehydration station in Wyoming County, PA. [video]
April 7-A 37-year-old worker is found dead at a Noble Energy pump station in WV.
April 7-An illegally dumped “frack sock” (a filter used in the process that can be radioactive) is discovered  along the road in Dunn County, ND. [video]
April 5-Six families are evacuated after a 12-inch pipeline operated by Williams explodes. The cause of the explosion and fire is thought to be shifting earth. [video]
April 5- David Zamora, 43 from Victoria Texas, is crushed to death by a piece of heavy equipment at the Rice Energy Big Foot Pad Smith Township, Belmont County, OH.
April 4- A compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle explosion kills 59-year-old Gerald Throw, of Sobieski, Wis. and injures passenger, 29-year-old Jose Perez of Green Bay. Sheriff's officials say a box-style truck was slowing to make a turn into a parking lot of Ace Manufacturing Inc. when its load shifted, potentially compromising the truck's compressed natural gas fuel system. That fuel system detonated.
April 2-A semi-truck tips over in Marshall County, WV spilling hazardous material on the road. The road is closed for nearly 12 hours.  Reports indicate several drums containing poisonous liquid spilled onto the road. A HAZMAT crew was called to work to clean up the mess. The driver of the truck was not endorsed to carry this kind of dangerous material and citations are pending, according to deputies.
April 2- True Oil Llc is cited by the DEP for violation of 78.55 - No Control and Disposal/PPC plan or failure to implement preparedness, prevention, and contingency (PPC) plan in West Mahoning Twp., Indiana County, PA.  The PPC plan involves the transfer of drilling waste.
April 1- Atlas Resources Llc spills and “unknown amount” of brine that is carried out of the secondary containment because of “[r]ecent precipitation events.”  A vegetation kill is noted.

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March 2014

4/11/2014

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March 31-Between 300 and 1,000 people are evacuated when the Williams Northwest Pipeline facility, in Plymouth WA explodes and catches fire.  Deputies say they don't yet know when residents will be allowed to return home.
March 31-Stone Energy Corp cited for 78.55 - No Control and Disposal/PPC plan or failure to implement PPC plan in Elk Twp., Clarion County, PA.
March 31-Stone Energy Corp cited for 78.55 - No Control and Disposal/PPC plan or failure to implement PPC plan in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, PA.
March 27-Rex Energy (Re Gas Dev Llc) cited for 78.56LINER - Improperly lined pit in Lancaster Twp., Butler County, PA.
March 25-At least 1,638 gallons of tar sands oil leaks from BP’s Whiting refinery into Lake Michigan.
March 25-A tanker truck rolls over in Harrison County, OH spilling drilling mud.  The driver took the turn too quick, rolled into the opposite lane and ultimately into a ditch. [video]
March 25- Swepi Lp is cited with 78.54 - Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or residual waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth in Liberty Twp., Tioga County, PA.
March 22-A 4-mile wide oil spill is discovered by hikers in Utah’s popular Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
March 21-On a DEP “Incident- Response to Accident or Event,” XTO (Exxon Mobile) is cited with SWMA301 - Failure to properly store, transport, process or dispose of a residual waste in Buffalo Twp., Butler County, PA.
March 21- On a DEP “Incident- Response to Accident or Event,” XTO (Exxon Mobile) is cited with SWMA301 - Failure to properly store, transport, process or dispose of a residual waste in Connoquenessing Twp., Butler County, PA.
March 21- Rex Energy (Re Gas Dev Llc) fails to properly store, transport, process or dispose of a residual waste (SWMA301) in Forward Twp., Butler County, PA.
March 20- Trimont Energy Llc illegally discharges industrial waste to waters of Commonwealth without a permit (307CSL) just outside of State Game Land 25 in Cranberry Twp., Venango, PA.  This is their forth violation at the site in 10 days.
March 17-A 5-inch crack is discovered in a Sunoco pipeline running through the Oak Glen Nature Preserve in Ohio.  The EPA calculates that more than 20,000 gallons of crude oil leaked before anyone noticed.
March 13-Approximately 30 gallons of toxic brine spills from a Williams gathering line Susquehanna County, PA.  Ice had built up in an aboveground pipeline connection between the Jeffers Farms wells and the Zick Compressor Station near Route 106, causing the pipes to discharge brine.
March 12-Trimont Energy Llc is cited with 78.56(2) - Failure to maintain 2 ' of freeboard in an impoundment near State Game Land 45 Venango County, PA.
March 11-Trimont Energy Llc is cited with 78.54 - Failure to properly control or dispose of industrial or residual waste to prevent pollution of the waters of the Commonwealth near State Game Land 45 Venango County, PA.
March 11-Officials find over 200 industrial-sized black garbage bags filed with radioactive frack filter socks in an abandoned gas station in Noonan in Divide County.
March 10-A spilt wellhead is discovered on an XTO site in Indiana County, PA spraying oil, brine water & "white water."
March 4-A massive explosion and fire at an oil and gas drilling site north of Greeley, CO rocks neighbors out of their beds.  There are reports of injuries.
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February 2014

2/13/2014

2 Comments

 
Feb 26-A gas well blowout in Acadia, LA has forced the evacuation of 40 people within 1 ½ mile of the well.  It will several days before the well is capped. [video]
Feb 20
-Cabot is cited with “Operator shall prevent gas and other fluids from lower formations from entering fresh groundwater. Failure to operate and construct the well to ensure the integrity of the well is maintained and health, safety, environment, and property are protected” in Dimock, PA.
Feb 18
-XTO is cited for “Improper casing to protect fresh groundwater Inadequate number of centralizers installed on surface casing. Spacing was 200', whereas regulations dictate that spacing should be no more than 150' apart” at a well in Forward Twp., Butler County, PA.
Feb 15
-Flames from a well fire in Greene County, PA go out 3 days after exploding.  One worker is injured and other is missing and presumed dead.
Feb 13-More than 600 barrels of wastewater spilled at an Oasis Petroleum well site in Williams County, ND.
Feb 13
-A Whiting Petroleum Corp oil well in North Dakota is leaking between 2,000 and 3,000 gallons per day of fracking fluid after a blowout preventer failed.  Some material reaches a nearby stream.  It take several days to control.
Feb 13-A NiSource gas pipeline explosion in KY injures two and levels two homes.  A nearby barns and cars are set ablaze.  20 homes near the 60 ft. crater were evacuated in the middle of the night [video]
Feb 13-1,000 gallons of crude oil spill when 21 rail cars crash in Westmoreland County, PA [video]
Feb 12-A gas well in Greene County, PA explodes.  One worker is injured and other is missing and presumed dead.  The fire burns for days.  [video]
Feb 12- Oil sprays onto agricultural land next to a Zavanna site in ND.
Feb 12
- Approximately 35 barrels of oil spills from a Newfield Production Co. site in McKenzie County, ND.  Some of the oil had sprays onto the snow and a small frozen pond near the site.
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January 2014

1/7/2014

1 Comment

 
Jan 31-A Canadian National Railway Co train carrying fuel oil and other hazardous materials derails and spills in southeast Mississippi, forcing the evacuation of nearby residents.
Jan 31-A Tulsa, Okla., is fined $1 million for dumping 4,700 gallons of crude oil into a tributary of the North Platte River.  An independent contractor was regularly draining produced water into the creek. Company officials were aware of the discharges, but did not report them to the authorities, the investigation found.
Jan 27- 1,000 gallons of crude oil spills into the Delaware River from a Monroe Energy LLC site in Delaware County, PA [video]
Jan 27
-A tank battery farm explodes in OK. [video]
Jan 27-A tank battery farm explodes in OJan 25-Flames shoot 200-300 meters in the air when a pipeline operated by TransCanada explodes South of Winnipeg.
Jan 24- Daniel Rice, 33, dies when his wastewater truck explodes in Knoxville, AR.  It appears methane gas had built up in the tank which triggered the explosion.  The explosion is felt as far away as a mile and a half from the scene.
Jan 23-Flame shoot 100 ft. in the air when a gas well explodes in Boston Heights, OH.  Workers on the site told witnesses "they heard something weird so they ran for their lives."  [video]
Jan 22-A pipeline ruptures spilling 1.6 million litres of wastewater in Alberta.
Jan 21-Old Glory Energy is cited for an improperly lined pit in Clarion County, PA
Jan 20-Train cars carrying crude oil and sand derailed on a Philadelphia bridge early this morning, leaving the cars intact but leaning over the Schuylkill River.  Sources suggest that the oil was from the Bakken Shale.
Jan 18-Wastewater pits flood after heavy rains and snow in Kennetcook, Canada.
Jan 16-The Brown family in Texas, blame 32 earthquakes in the past few months that have damaged their property on nearby waste injection wells. [video]
Jan 9-A worker is flown to a Youngstown, OH hospital with a head injury he suffered while clearing ice from a pipeline.
Jan 9-A federal judge imposes more than $280,000 in financial penalties on a Marcellus Shale surveying firm and a foreman who were caught using 19 undocumented Mexican workers on a project in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Jan 7-Train cars carrying crude oil and propane derail and explode causing the evacuation of about 150 residents in New Brunswick.
Jan 6-The Williams Natural Gas compressor station catches fire in West Windsor, NY. [video]
Jan 2-A tank explosion at a JB Oil & Gas site in Tyler County, WV send one worker to the hospital and sends fluid onto the ground.
1 Comment

October 2013

10/15/2013

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Oct 29-17,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from an eight-inch diameter pipeline in Smithville, TX. [video]
Oct 27-Two workers were burned at an Antero Resources natural gas well in Doddridge County.
Oct 25-According to records obtained by the Associated Press, there have been 750 "oil field incidents" including 300 oil pipeline spills in North Dakota since January 2012 without public notification.
Oct 11- Kendall Henson, age 26, wrecks while hauling a trailer loaded with drilling pipe on U.S. Hwy. 259 north of Nacogdoches, TX.
Oct 9- A truck hauling brine became stuck under an underpass and overturned a Belmont County, OH
Oct 8-At least one person is injured in a Gulf Coast Acquisitions explosion near Gillett, TX when a saltwater disposal well exploded.  Roadways around the explosion are were shut down. [video]
Oct 8-Two men are life flighted after their truck, which, according to the Sheriff's Department was carrying Class A cement for well fracking, rolled off the road in Lewis County, WV.
Oct 7-A man has been hospitalized with burns following an explosion at a salt water disposal site in West Texas.
Oct 3-Reports confirmed that a disposal well in OK shutdown after a swarm of earthquakes in the area.
Oct 2
-An unidentified male is killed after the water truck he was driving left Turkey Path Road in Bradford County, PA and rolled over, coming to rest upside down in a ditch.  The Fish and Game Commission and DEP were called to the scene after emergency crews noticed fluid leaking from the crashed water truck.
Oct 2-A study by Duke University found radium in concentrations 200 times above normal in a Pennsylvania creek that flows into the Allegheny River.  The radium, along with salts such as bromide, came from the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility in Indiana County.
Oct 2-Nathan Garber admits to injecting waste water into a Halek Operating ND LLC disposal well located in Stark County, ND after the company was told the well was not up to state standards.
Oct 1- A three-vehicle accident involving two trucks heading to the XTO plant on Hicks Rd. sends Butler resident, Aaron Lee Speed to Butler Memorial Hospital.  Police reported that Ralph Jones, 61, who had a Texas driver’s license, nor Jay Reinke, 34, of Wyoming, were injured.
Oct 1-Pipeline drilling in Harrison County, OH damages two properties.  The damages include contaminated water and a crack in the chimney and main beam. [video]
Oct 1- In Sewickley Twp., Westmoreland County Chevron is found to be operating with an unsound impoundment, torn pit liner, a spill to ground, and the addition of portland cement to drill cuttings without prior approval.

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September 2013

9/30/2013

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Late Sept- More than 200 barrels of fracking fluid, oil and water blew out of a traditional oil well in NM due to pressure from a nearby Encana fracking operation.  The fluid created a stream of liquid that reached a half-mile in length and crossed the mail road. [video]
Sept 29-A farmer discovers a pipeline break that spilled 20,600 barrels of Bakken crude in his wheat  field.  The cleanup will take years and about $4M.
Sept 28-Five combustible containers at the La Grange Salt Water Disposal Plant in TX explode after being struck by lightening. 
Sept 28-A high-pressure gas well explosion in Salem, WV throws a worker 50 feet, causing him to be flown to the hospital in a helicopter. [video]
Sept 27-A tanker truck to bursts into flames at a Rex Energy well site near Carrollton, OH during a condensate transfer.
Sept 25-Pa Gen Energy Co Llc spills 20 gal of flowback fluid into the ground in Lycoming County, PA.
Sept 25- Interstate Gas Mkt Inc fails to plug a well upon abandonment in Toby Twp., Clarion County, PA
Sept 21-A fire at the Blue Racer Midstream natural gas processing plant at Natrium, WV closes route 2 for about 8 hours. About 25 people from 11 homes are evacuated for about 90 minutes early Saturday.
Sept 21-A gas pipeline suddenly ruptured and exploded near the Newton/Jasper County line in TX.
Sept 21-Around 1 am, a Dominion Gas Plant near Kent, WV explodes.  Nearby residents are evacuated and Rt. 2 was closed.
Sept 16-A Danlin Industries plant that supplies chemicals to the oil and gas industry in Thomas, OK explodes and burned for over 9 hours. [video]
Sept 11-12- Massive flooding in Colorado cause at least 11 ‘notable’ oil spills totaling 34,524 gallons of oil.
Sept 11-Report on Prairie Public about the death of 21-year old Dustin Bergsing on a frack site in North Dakota. [audio]
Sept 10-PA’s  Attorney General Kathleen files criminal charges against XTO (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil) for illegally discharging more than 50,000 gallons of toxic wastewater from a Marcellus Shale gas well site in Penn Township, Lycoming County.
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June 2013

6/30/2013

1 Comment

 
June 26-Two county workers suffered minor injuries and at least 34 cars were damaged when a section of roadway sunk as a result of a Sunoco Pipeline LP project in Beaver County.
July 25- In Susquehanna County, PA, Chief Oil and Gas spilled an estimated 20 barrels of oil due to a valve that was left open.  It then leaked onto the ground through a hole in the plastic lining.  
June 25-A caller to the NRC reported a fire at an oil well near Ravenna, OH.  There were 150 gallons of oil released.
June 25-A 30-inch transmission pipeline exploded in Enon, LA causing the evacuation of 55 people.
June 22-A water tuck owned by JB Oil and Gas ran a stop sign killing a mother and her 14 year old daughter. 
June 21-PVR’s Chapin Glycol Dehydration plant in Monroe Twp accidentally discharged in the atmosphere.  This is the 3rd such event since the PVR Chapin plant went operational in late spring of 2012. [video] 
June 21 -32-year-old Greg Peacock, died from 3rd degree burns he suffered during an explosion at a well pad.  He left behind a two year-old son and fiancee.
June 20-50 homes were evacuated when a gas pipeline containing 1% deadly hydrogen sulfide ruptured southwest of Calgary after debris from a flood struck the pipeline.   
June 18-A 30-inch transmission line in Louisiana ruptured, sparking a natural gas explosion and a fire.
June 13- A gas line ruptured underneath the Ohio River near Bellaire spewing gas out of the water between OH and WV [video]
June 12 -A truck at a well in MI backed into a high-pressure line causing an explosion that knocked people over in a nearby home.  
June 12 -A Williams cracker plant in LA exploded killing 2 and injuring 100.  This is the same type of plant that is proposed for Beaver County.
June 7-Investigations determined that Vintage Oil illegally dumped formation fluids and fracking fluids into an unlined pit in CA [video]
June 4- PA DEP fined PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering LLC of Williamsport, Lycoming County, $150,000 for multiple and continuing violations of the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law, the Dam Safety and Encroachments Act and various related environmental regulations, including sediment discharges into High Quality and Exceptional Value streams during construction of the Coal Mountain pipeline in four Lycoming County townships
June 4-Wastewate hauler Harch was ordered to suspend operations in OH after evidence was found that the company was illegally disposing waste in a private pond [audio]
June 3- SWEPI LP was cited in for “failure to properly store, transport, process or dispose of a residual waste” at their West 1 OG Well in Slippery Rock Twp.
June 3- RE Gas Dev LLC (Rex Energy) was cited for “discharge of industrial waste to waters of Commonwealth without a permit” at their Warner Unit 1H in Lancaster Twp.
June 1-A pipeline operated by a Texas-based oil company has leaked 9.5 million litres of industrial waste water in Canada.
June 1-A caller to the NRC reported that a water tanker truck was dumping into Indian Creek in Tyler County, WV.
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May 2013

5/31/2013

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May 30- PDC Energy pipeline drilling operations polluted White Day Creek in Monongalia County, WV.
May 30-13 people were injured in natural gas explosion at Williams Gas Pipeline facility in Branchburg, NJ.
May 14-Explosion at Williams natural gas compressor in Brooklyn Twp., Susquehanna County [video]
Approx. May 22-A Louisiana man was killed at a North Dakota drillsite
May 1-More than 1,600 gallons of oil spilled from an oil storage tank into a creek in Trumbull County, OH [video]
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March 2013

3/23/2013

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March ??-DEP found "petroleum-based hydraulic fluid used in industry" in Hicks Creek .  It is unknown who or the when the dumping took place.
March 19-A compressor station caught fire in Bradford County, PA sending one worker to the hospital with burns. [video]
March 17-An oil tank on a pad in Columbiana County, OH exploded throwing its lid 400-500 feet into the yard of a nearby residence.
March 15-An explosion of a gas well with 30 ft. flames forced people from their homes in Chippewa Township, Wayne County, OH.  It was felt 3 miles away.
March 14-Frack fluid spewed at a rate of 800 gl/min. in Wyoming County, Pa [video]
March 9-A Spectra Energy compressor station in Clearville, PA spewed methane and other hydrocarbons over a period of three hours.  Local homeowners complained yet Spectra and the DEP denied the release for 6 six days.
March 9-Two children were killed when a water truck rolled over and crushed a car on in Clarksburg, WV.
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February 2013

2/23/2013

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Feb 26-One man was killed and another was injured in a drilling accident in eastern Ohio.
Feb 22-PA based Noble Energy spills over 95,000 gallons from a frack pond into a local tributary of Big Wheeling Creek in WV [video]
Feb 13-A blowout at a Chesapeake well sent fluid gushing into a stream in Bradford County, Pa
Feb 12-Over 12,000 gallons of “re-use” water was spilled at a Range Resources site in Cross Creek County Park, Washington County, PA
Feb 11-84,000 gallons of green oil-laden fracking fluid gushed from an oil well near Fort Collins, Co for nearly 30 hours
Feb 4-Approx. 840 gallon of waste water were spilled at the Rex/ McElhinney well in Forward Township, Butler County, Pa
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    Partial List of Spills, Accidents, and Violations

    Author

    Compiled by MOB members

    As fracking and its ancillary operations are charging full steam ahead across Butler County, we are seeing almost daily reports of high profile and high volume spills, explosions, accidents, deaths, reported violations, fines and acknowledgement of old and continuing violations.  We thought that we would highlight a few to give you a sense of the destruction that fracking leaves in its path.   This is by no means a full list.

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