Fracking well explosion forces more than 400 Ohio families from homes

[AngryOldDem]

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/29/well_explosion.html

<<From his fishing boat on a rural Jefferson County pond, Mike Poole can see a natural-gas wellhead less than 0.1 mile away.

Poole spent part of Tuesday afternoon on that boat with a buddy and his dog; and the well, at that time, was just part of the landscape to him. By Tuesday evening, though, the well had forced him from his home.

Poole, who lives above the Mingo Junction Sportsman’s Club less than a mile from the well, was one of about 400 families who were evacuated after the well ruptured Tuesday night, spewing natural gas and methane into the air.>>

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I saw this while at work this afternoon. Didn't see anything here -- apologies if it's been posted elsewhere.

Yep -- fracking is safe. As the man points out, there are apparently no response teams for this kind of emergency in Ohio, and they had to fly in a team from Texas to deal with it (a Haliburton-owned team, no less). Of course, there are the SOP announcements from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that everything is back to normal.

It's only a matter of time before a true disaster hits. But hey, fracking is safe.

[freshwest]

1. Call John (GOP - Keystone XL Pipeline on every CR - OH) Boehner and give him something to cry about!

[kelliekat44]

3. Quick! Make a TV add...nt

[jen63]

2. Just more colonization of Appalachia.

Par for the course. Screw John Kasich.

[AngryOldDem]

4. It's a breathtakingly beautiful part of Ohio, and one of the poorest.

I really, really hate it when big corporations come in to an area and show money and promise a whole lot of good things in exchange for perfectly good land.

I don't blame Eastern Ohio for this; I blame those gas companies that are taking advantage of it.

Just glad no one died.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Kasich is such a repulsive *****

Ohio USED to have a compassionate governor, Ted Strickland, who really cared about all the people, especially from Appalachia where he's from. I still can't believe Ohio rejected Strickland for this goon. It broke my heart.

[jen63]

6. Your's and mine both!

He is such a good man. They promised us "good jobs" with fracking. There are a few who got hired, but not those who desperately need jobs. Instead I see a whole lot of Texas, Louisiana and other oil state license plates around here.

[theHandpuppet]

7. Yeah, a whole lot of jobs for people in Texas.

A whole lot of poisoned groundwater and environmental destruction for Ohio. What a great deal!

This portion of the article really highlighted this problem:

Poole spent the night with family in a nearby village. The experience left him worried for his home and for the woods and lakes where he likes to hunt, hike and fish.

“They’re telling everybody, ‘Oh, this is perfectly, 100 percent safe, it’s safe safe safe safe, it’s not hurting the water, it’s not hurting the air,’  ” he said. “Well, why were we evacuated last night?”

He questioned why American Energy Partners hadn’t trained emergency responders in Ohio, rather than relying on a team that had to be flown in from Texas.

“What if this happens again?” he said. “Are we in the same boat? We gotta call these people in Houston, have them come up here and fix this?”

[jen63]

9. Yep.

Plus they miss the point that we are using so much water to frack; even if it was 100% safe, water is at a critical point in this country that we cannot afford to use all of our water to produce a non renewable resource.

[theHandpuppet]

8. Plus, whenever there IS an accident, they'll tell you everything is safe!

No worries -- the air and water is just fine!

Boy, have we heard that line time after time in WV. Whenever they tell you "The water's fine, jump right in!" you know you're in deep shit. The collusion and corruption between coal/energy interests and the very agencies put in place to protect the people have been frequent topics at Appalachia group.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272781
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272720
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272790
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272794
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272801
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272802
http://www.democraticunderground.com/127219

The folks in Ohio thought they were getting a good deal. I guess it is, if the intent was to make a good deal with the Devil.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. ^