Gas Well Blowout Under Control In Clearfield County

Pennsylvania environmental officials said natural gas and polluted drilling water poured for 16 hours from a well in rural Clearfield County.

Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for the gas well's owner, driller EOG Resources Inc., said the well was brought under control just after noon Friday, about 16 hours after it started spewing gas.

The leak happened at a Marcellus drilling operation on McGeorge Road in Moshannon State Forest. A one-mile radius of the forest was evacuated Friday morning after the well ruptured near the Punxsutawney Hunting Club.

State Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Dan Spadoni said no one was injured and there are no homes within a mile of the well. He said polluted drilling water did not reach a waterway.

Spadoni said unexpectedly high gas pressure in the new well prevented crews from initially containing the leak. An expert on such wells told The Associated Press that gas well blowouts are very rare.

Around 10:30 a.m., officials checked camps to make sure all campers were evacuated around the site while gas leaked into the air.

According to state Rep. Bud George's office, initial reports from Process Equipment Manufacturers' Association said three of four wells were secured. The other well was releasing frack water and unignited wet gas, which caused the evacuation. Officials said an estimated 1 million gallons of frack water was uncontrolled as of 11 a.m. in the area of exit 111 on Interstate 80.

Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is the process of blasting millions of gallons of water deep underground to break up the shale and release the gas. Most of the frack water stays underground, but what comes up must be treated or disposed of in approved facilities.

In addition to the Emergency Management Agency and Department of Environmental Protection, teams from Texas were called to help control the situation and a command trailer was set up.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials said a portion of Route 153/Forestry Road was closed to traffic but there were no other major road closures The gas leak also prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a flight restriction in the immediate area shortly after 11 a.m.