Fatalities among oil and gas workers have climbed to the highest level since records began in the US, amid a catalogue of explosions, well blowouts and spills at fracking sites across the US, Canada and Australia. Continue reading
A West Virgina Fracking Site Where An Explosion And Fire Killed 2 Workers And Injured 5 Others (Click To Enlarge)
Greene County shale well continues burning (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 2014) An explosion on a Marcellus Shale site in Greene County, Pennsylvania while a well was being connected to a gas pipeline has left one worker injured and one missing feared dead, and the fire was still raging more than 12 hours later
On-The-Job Deaths Spiking As Oil Drilling Quickly Expands (National Public Radio, December 2013) Last year, 138 oil and gas industry workers were killed on the job, an increase of more than 100 percent since 2009, and the fatality rate among oil and gas workers is now nearly eight times higher the average for industrial jobs
Oil and gas fatalities spike with boom (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 2013) About every three days, an oil and gas worker in the US was killed on the job in 2012 – and in 2011 and 2010 – as fatalities in the booming industry have climbed to the highest level since records began
Investigation Continues Into Fatal Explosion at WV Fracking Site (EcoWatch, August 2013) Seven people were injured, and since two men have died due to injuries sustained in an explosion and fire at a fracking site in West Virginia, caused by a buildup of gas in tanks used to store flow back water
Explosion at CSG well probed (Byron Shire Echo, August 2013) A blowout at a coal seam gas in New South Wales shot 200 metres broken drill rods, a milling tool, methane and liquids into the air, and a NSW mine safety report noted the potential for the incident to have been far worse
Few answers in April gas well blowout (Denton Record-Chronicle, July 2013) A well blowout in the city of Denton, Texas went unreported by the company for 9 hours and spewed chemicals into the air for over 12 hours, including the carcinogens benzene and ethylene dibromide, eventually resulting in the evacuation of four nearby homes and the diversion of flights at the city airport
Wyoming County well malfunction causes spill, evacuation (Scranton Times-Tribune, March 2013) Three Pennsylvania families were evacuated from their homes for two days after a blowout during fracking operations at a Marcellus Shale well caused gas and thousands of gallons of fluid waste to escape from the well and spill off the pad, before crews could shut it down
Fracking blamed for well blowout near Innisfail (Calgary Herald, December 2012) A well blowout in Alberta that spewed oily liquid over a farm was caused by hydraulic fracturing of a neighbouring well and was not an isolated event, with 21 examples of “communication” between wells over the past year, of which five resulted in blowouts
Pennsylvania Fracking Accident: What Went Wrong (Popular Mechanics, April 2011) A Pennsylvania shale gas well operated by Chesapeake Energy erupted, sending thousands (and perhaps tens of thousands) of gallons of highly saline fluid laced with chemical, some carcinogenic or linked to birth defects, spilling from the fracking site, into a tributary of a popular trout-fishing stream and forcing seven families nearby to evacuate their homes
Exxon Subsidiary Investigated for 13,000 Gallon Fracking Fluid Spill Into Pennsylvania Waterways (Huffington Post, November 2010) 13,000 gallon fracking fluid spill an XTO Energy drilling site in Pennsylvania polluted an unnamed tributary to the Sugar Run river and a spring and threatening a nearby cattle herd that had to be fenced off from the contaminated pasture