Huge explosion rocks western PA gas site

At approximately 6:30pm last night an explosion at a Chesapeake drill site rocked the small community of Avella PA (Washington County) and burned for nearly 3 hours as firefighters from at least 2 counties battled the blaze.  The explosion injured 2-3 people who are now being treated for burns.  Two contractors were reportedly flown via helicopter from the scene to UPMC-Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh.  For video of the site, click HERE to see the WTOV footage.

"I was eating dinner when all of a sudden there was an explosion," said Katie Leeper, whose home is on a hill across the valley from the well. "I didn't know it was an explosion at first, but the whole house shook and the windows rattled.  "I looked outside, saw all the neighbors, looked over the hill and saw the big fire."  Another neighbor, Robert Dalesio, who said his house is 650 yards from the well, thought a plane had crashed.  "I first thought a C-130 (military transport aircraft) went down because they fly over here all the time," he said. "There was a pretty good concussion. I looked over and saw the whole hillside on fire."  To read the full story, click HERE.

Satellite imagery shows destruction caused by gas well drilling in Marcellus Shale

Recently, Jay Langham, a concerned resident of Washington County, PA authored a photo essay on the gas well activity in his area.  Combining his own images with those freely available from Google Earth, Langham does an excellent job illustrating exactly how Marcellus Shale extraction is forever altering the landscape of these communities.  Since many of the images are taken from Google's satellite photography, the breadth of environmental destruction will be shocking to those who may have only seen the sites from nearby roads or land.  In some cases, Langham notes that some nearby residents were seemingly unaware of the landscape's destruction as some sites are not easily visible.  To view the pdf document of Langham's photo essay, please click HERE.

Please note that you will need (free) Adobe Reader software to view this document.  Most pcs already have this installed but if yours does not, click HERE to get the download.