U.S.
under attack: 7 oil/gas disasters in
4 days
15
February, 2014
Corporate-government's
intense human
rights abuses
against citizenry regarding health and safety escalated in oil- and
gas-cursed states this week.
Hiland
Partners Pipeline Explosion, North Dakota
Monday
evening, Feb. 10, a Hiland Partners LP gas pipeline exploded, causing
a large fire south of Tioga in northwestern North Dakota.
The
blast was so bright, it lit the night sky like the sun, according to
Tioga Mayor Nathan Germundson, also a firefighter who responded.
As
crews began responding, they saw a large glow south of town, so they
knew it was a big blaze.
Hiland
was ‘blowing’ hydrates, ice-like solids formed from a mixture of
water and gas that can block pipeline flow, out of the pipeline,
according to Kris Roberts of the North Dakota Department of Health
Environmental Health Section.
Hiland
Partners said the fire on the property it operates was extinguished
and no third-party property was damaged. The cause of the fire is
unknown and remains under investigation.
The
pipeline was above ground at the point of ignition, Roberts said. It
started in the “slug catcher,” a large diameter pipe with a hatch
that allows workers to remove equipment used in a pipeline cleaning
and inspecting process called pigging.
Navy
Dumps 2,000 Gallons Oily Contaminated Waste Water, Puget Sound
The
Navy dumped thousands of gallons of oil contaminated waste-water into
Puget Sound, blaming it on a failed pump.
Tom
Danaher, spokesman for Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, said the Navy was
using a pumping system on one of its piers to remove oily bilge water
from a ship late Monday. An electrical ground prevented the pump from
automatically shutting off when a 4,000 holding tank was filled.
Because the operation was unattended, it took 20-30 minutes before
naval staff realized that oil-contaminated waste-water was pouring
into the sound, Danaher said in an interview Wednesday.
“So
the pumps did not get the signal that the tank was full. The tank
overflowed,” he said. “When the people on the pier saw the
overflow, we stopped all pumping and started our clean up.”
The
cleanup expanded Wednesday with deployment of surveyors walking the
beaches around Hood Canal where the spill occurred, Danaher said.
Initially,
the Navy indicated 150-200 gallons had spilled. Since then, only
after shown photos of the oil mess, the unified spill command –
including the Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Washington Department of
Ecology – agreed the amount leaked was nearly 2,000 gallons.
Chevron
fracking well explosion sets blaze, injuring one, one feared dead:
Penn.-West Virginia Border Town
Tuesday,
Feb. 11, the worst fear fossil fuel workers imagine occurred when a
Chevron fracking well exploded near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia
border. It injured one worker, likely killed another, and continues
to spew a massive amount of chemicals into the air for at least 15
miles that four days later, is still impacted, despite what the
corporation and some officials say.
“This
is not your standard well fire. It’s bigger,” officials report.
The
explosion rocked residents’ houses and set a huge blaze seen for
miles, still alight and so hot, responders have been unable to get
near it.
“I
can see the gas well fire in Bobtown from my house… like 10 miles
away,” tweeted Jesse Vihlidal @JesseVihlidal, adding hashtags,
“#scary” and ” #gasland.”
Wednesday,
as far as Morgantown, West Virginia 14 miles south, the smog from the
north as winds blew south, was so heavy, many were absent from work,
some attributing the absenteeism to the spreading volatile gas plume
— that officials say is not hazardous to humans.
No
emergency provisions were on site. The wild well was so unique and
huge, Chevron has Houston-based company Wild Well Control to attempt
to halt the massive gas fire, larger than most other such fires.
“We’re
being told … the site itself, that fire, will not be contained and
we will not have access to that property for at least a few days,”
Trooper Stefani Plume said Tuesday.
Wild
Well specialists say, however, they will cap the well. Officials have
voiced concern about plugging the well, fearing gas pressure below
might migrate to other areas and cause further serious damage.
Residents also remain fearful.
“Location
of well pads….school yards? right next to homes? Any gas well can
go wrong-why do they need companies like Wild Well Control if it is
perfectly safe?” asks Victoria Switzer in a comment Thursday. “Are
folks being told the real danger or risk of gas wells in their yards?
Is signing a gas lease a waiver. I am still waiting for the gas
industry to be honest and share the list of inherent risks associated
with gas extraction, production and transportation.
“Other
than this site, I have seen very little coverage of this event but I
have sure seen a lot of glossy ads on tv showing the wonders of
natural gas.”
Patriot
Coal Co. slurry line ruptured, sent black toxic crud 6 miles into
river: West Virginia
Also
Tuesday, Feb. 11, near the same time that Chevron’s frack well
exploded in Bobtown near West Virginia’s border, 150 miles south, a
Patriot Coal company slurry line at southern West Virginia’s
Kanawha Eagle Prep Plant ruptured and spilled a highly toxic
byproduct from the coal mining and preparation process into a creek
feeding the Kanawha River, blackening a 6-mile stretch down one
waterway.
Over
100,000 gallons of slurry spilled. West Virginia state officials are
monitoring potential impacts on public health and the local water
supply, along with Freedom Industries’ chemical leak that continues
to prevent safe water for 300,000 residents.
Officials
initially dismissed this event as not significant. Now, however, West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials say
it is ”significant” and are comparing it to Freedom Industries’
coal chemical spill into the Elk River.
Coal
slurry contains substances more toxic than Crude MCHM or polyethylene
glycol already contaminating over nine counties from the Freedom
Industries event over a month ago.
Coal
slurry contains heavy metals, like iron, manganese, aluminum and
selenium.
Gas
oipeline explodes: Kentucky
Wednesday
Feb 13, a gas pipeline 20-30 feet underground, exploded in Kentucky
just after 2:00 A.M. CST, sending two people to hospital, forcing
evacuation of 20 homes, leaving a 60-foot crater, and two homes
totally destroyed. The violent explosion rocked homes to their
foundations.
“All
the sudden, the house shook and everything lit up like daylight, so
we ran to the window and looked out and all we saw was this big ball
of fire,” said military veteran Bill Kingdollar, who lives about a
quarter mile from the blast site. “It looked like a warzone. I’ve
never seen anything like that.
“I’ve
told you I spent 20 years in the military and I’ve never seen a
fireball or anything like that,” he said. “It was the craziest
thing I’ve ever seen. Everything shook. The ground shook. The
windows shook. Everything was shaking including me because you don’t
know what’s going on.“
This
disaster occurred in Adair County, near Highway 76 in Knifley south
of Louisville. The gas pipeline transports natural gas from the Gulf
of Mexico to New York.
The
first call came in at about 1:04 A.M. CST when residents heard and
felt rumbling under their feet, said Adair County Emergency
Management Agency director Greg Thomas. Then came the explosion and a
ball of fire, he said.
Three
homes, two barns, and six vehicles caught fire after the blast, he
said. Two of homes were completely destroyed.
“There
is now a crater 60 feet deep and it blew rocks out, and I don’t
mean pebbles … big rocks,” and a 20- to 30-foot section of pipe
was thrown over 300 feet.
After
the explosion, 20 homes were evacuated. By 1:30 p.m. all fires had
been extinguished and the evacuation order lifted allowing residents
to return to their homes, he said.
Columbia
Gulf Transmission detected a drop in gas pressure in the pipe at the
time of the explosion. Officials determined the pipe ruptured.
Nustar’s
Norfolk Southern Train derails, crashes, spews 7,000 gallons crude
plus propane near homes: Pennsylvania
Thursday,
Feb. 13, 21 fossil fuel cars in NuStar’s Norfolk Southern train
derailed, crashed in Pennsylvania, spewing 7,000 gallons of
carcinogenic crude oil only two miles from dozens of homes.
“I
heard a strange noise, a hollow, screeching sound,” said Ray
Cochran, who watched the train derail from his home on a hill above
the tracks. “I looked out the window and saw three or four tankers
turn over and one of them ran into the building.”
The
120-car Norfolk train carrying heavy Canadian crude oil derailed near
Vandergrift, company officials confirmed Thursday.
In
the cars that jumped track, 19 were carrying crude oil and two were
carrying propane.
“We
do have a lot of homes in close proximity. It could’ve been very
tragic,” said Dan Stevens, a local public safety spokesman
Thursday. “If it would’ve happened in a borough, we could’ve
had a totally different situation.”
The
train crashed into a track-side building owned by MSI Corporation
that makes metal products. MSI refrained from comment.
This
was the second fossil fuel oil train derailment in less than a month
in Pennsylvania. A train hauling crude on a CSX Corp railroad jumped
the tracks and nearly toppled over a bridge in Philadelphia on Jan.
20.
Whiting
Oil and Gas company frac well in North Dakota blew out, sending
workers running for their lives
Also
on Thursday, Feb. 13, a Whiting Oil and Gas company frac well in
North Dakota blew out of contro, sending 15 workers running for their
lives in fear of an explosion. A blow out preventer failed. Around
10,000 gallons of poisonous fluid has been leaking from the wild well
per hour.
The
hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well blowout occurred when a blow out
preventer (BOP) failed south of Watford City, about seven miles north
of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit in North Dakota
according to the Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms.
The
fifteen workers who ran from the well left their pickups at the site
called McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office, said McKenzie County
Emergency Manager Jerry Samuelson. He directed a school bus in the
area to pick up the workers.
“When
that thing blows, you just never know,” Samuelson said. “There’s
a possibility of explosion.”
The
BOP seal leaked and caused the accident, according to Denver,
Colorado-based Whting Oil and Gas company spokersperson Jack Ekstrom.
“It’s
still a tad dangerous up there,” Kris Roberts, with the health
department’s Division of Water Quality said mid-day Friday.
Bob
Wisness, who lives about a mile from the well, said he saw what
looked like a green vapor after the incident. He received a message
from Whiting that a blowout occurred. Although Wisness didn’t feel
he was in danger, he started texting friends who live near the site
but were out of town, he said.
“There
are well sites that are closer to people’s homes. I’m glad it’s
not me. Other people have good reason to worry about it,” Wisness
said.
While
no immediate injuries were reported, the initial release sprayed oil
and water on to snow that is on top of the ice-covered Cherry Creek,
according to Helms.
“To
the best of our knowledge, nothing has gotten into the water,”
Helms said.
Whiting
Oil and Gas claimed about 50 barrels of flowback water were released
but contained on site within a berm.
Fracking
had been completed at the well and the fluid released was a poisoned
water-based solution that flows back to the surface. As much as one
million gallons of water is used per well. The well continued
releasing about 200 barrels of poisoned fluid per hour, about 10,000
gallons per hour. The company says the fluid was directed to tanks
and contained on site, according to Ekstrom.
Crews
from Wild Well Control were brought in to assist with the
out-of-control well. Helms said the cause of the accident will be
closely examined because blowouts carry serious health and safety
risks. (Author’s emphasis.)
In
2012, a worker died when hit by pickup during the chaos after a
blowout in Williams County, North Dakota.
190,000
residents without power in freezing conditions: North Carolina
Meanwhile,
this week, on Nov. 13, dependent on “safe and efficient fossil
fuels,” thousands of North Carolinians had no electricity in a
winter storm that dropped snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Overall,
customer outages have totaled over 500,000. It took some 3,400 Duke
Energy crews working to restore power Thursday in the Carolinas.
“Some
of our service territory took a hard blow from the storm,” said
Jeff Corbett, senior vice president of Duke Energy’s Carolinas
Delivery Operations. “We are concentrating our efforts on assessing
damage and working to restore power in these hard-hit areas.
Not
one of the above events would have happened had the nation been
proactive in the field of renewable energy.
Sources:
NPR, Post Gazette, WLKY, Bizmark Tribune with special thanks to
reader, RetiredPatriot, Before It’s News,
Posts
