| A Clover, Roane County man is in serious condition at UPMC-Mercy in Pittsburgh following a fiery explosion during well testing at a natural gas-drilling site in Pennsylvania near the northern WV stateline.
Russell Schoolcraft, 48, is listed in serious condition, and a fellow worker, Richard Lancaster, 50, of Sardis, Ohio, is in critical condition. A third worker, Frank Lancaster, 36, of New Martinsville is in West Penn Hospital, where his condition was not released.
Reports said the men were not involved with the testing but were removing water caused by melted snow at the Chesapeake Appalachia site near Avella, not far from the WV line.
The flash fire involved five 500-barrel storage tanks before it was extinguished several hours later.
Chesapeake Appalachia, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp., said three wells on the pad were closed following the explosion. Investigators went to the site.
Water mixed with sand and chemicals, some of them toxic, is forced into the wells at high pressure, shattering the underground shale and releasing trapped gas, a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Residents in communities where fracking occurs have voiced concerns about possible water contamination and other safety issues, but the gas companies say the procedure has been used safely for decades.
The Associated Press reported that
DEP records showed no environmental violations reported at the well site in 2010 or 2011.
However, records show that Chesapeake Energy had the most violations among the Marcellus Shale well operators in Pennsylvania last year, racking up 149 violations and 33 enforcements.
Reported incidents included chemical and waste spills and suspicions of gas seeping out of wells.
Chesapeake has been blamed for contaminating residential wells with methane gas in PA.
Pennsylvania has been upgrading regulations regarding Marcellus drilling, and New York state has placed a ban on the drilling.
The West Virginia Legislature is apparently not placing any new restrictions on Marcellus drilling in the Mountain State, declining to adopt a number of provisions that would protect land owners, highways and the environment.
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