Concern After Spill at Well Pad in Wyoming County (5pm)
By: Eric Deabill
Updated: March 14, 2013
Washington Township, Wyoming County- Water was shooting from the Yerasavage Well Pad along Keiserville road outside Tunkhannock.
Investigators say after a malfunction Wednesday night, frack fluid began spilling from the site around 6:00 pm.
"All we're being told right now is some type of malfunction on the well pad, in the drill, a flange, which is like a bolt or something malfunctioned but that's going to be part of the investigation, what exactly went wrong." said DEP Spokesperson, Colleen Connolly
At first, fluid spilled slowly but it started to get worse overnight.at times, it was up to 800 gallons per minute.
Several surrounding homes were evacuated as a precaution.those people are now allowed back in.
"The time that we did arrive, there was some concern of how much fluid was actually going to leak so we asked people to voluntarily evacuate from their homes because we really didn't have a good control of it at that point" said Gene Dziak, Wyoming County EMA Director
State officials were initially concerned not only about the spill but also about gas buildup and the risk of a flare-off or explosion. Neither problem materialized because DEP Spokeswoman Colleen Connolly says the gas was let out slowly.
"Its sort of like your gas grill, if you think about it like that and you let the gas out slowly, the lid won't explode open so what they did was let some gas out to allow the well pressure to subside."
Officials say they've done tests on the water released.
It came back with low to no radioactivity.
air sampling was also done roughly 1.5 miles around the well pad for methane and chemicals and nothing has been detected.
Crews will monitor the scene all night.
Investigators say after a malfunction Wednesday night, frack fluid began spilling from the site around 6:00 pm.
"All we're being told right now is some type of malfunction on the well pad, in the drill, a flange, which is like a bolt or something malfunctioned but that's going to be part of the investigation, what exactly went wrong." said DEP Spokesperson, Colleen Connolly
At first, fluid spilled slowly but it started to get worse overnight.at times, it was up to 800 gallons per minute.
Several surrounding homes were evacuated as a precaution.those people are now allowed back in.
"The time that we did arrive, there was some concern of how much fluid was actually going to leak so we asked people to voluntarily evacuate from their homes because we really didn't have a good control of it at that point" said Gene Dziak, Wyoming County EMA Director
State officials were initially concerned not only about the spill but also about gas buildup and the risk of a flare-off or explosion. Neither problem materialized because DEP Spokeswoman Colleen Connolly says the gas was let out slowly.
"Its sort of like your gas grill, if you think about it like that and you let the gas out slowly, the lid won't explode open so what they did was let some gas out to allow the well pressure to subside."
Officials say they've done tests on the water released.
It came back with low to no radioactivity.
air sampling was also done roughly 1.5 miles around the well pad for methane and chemicals and nothing has been detected.
Crews will monitor the scene all night.
