Frack spill on BP Anniversary a warning
Another toxic spill. Oil?
More families are being evacuated from their homes. Nuclear?
No. This time it’s natural gas.
News affiliates in Pennsylvania are repo
rting an accident at a natural gas well in Bradford Country.
The well blew near the surface, spilling thousands and thousands of gallons of frack fluid over containment walls, through fields, personal property and farms, even where cattle continue to graze.
As of 2 p.m., well operator, Chesapeake Energy has not been able to get the spill under control. According to Bradford County’s director of public safety, the well has been spewing fracking fluid since late Tuesday night. As a result, seven families have been evacuated from their homes and all non-essential workers have been pulled from the scene.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has confirmed that the Towanda Creek – which feeds into the Susquehanna River – has been contaminated.
In Tyson Slocum’s latest Huffington Post article, BP Oil Spill: It Could Happen Again, he notes that despite the tragedy that is still unfolding in the Gulf, no congressional action has been taken to improve the safety and environmental impact of offshore drilling. In fact, in the wake of the BP disaster and in the face of the nuclear crisis in Japan our political leaders have not so much as flinched while pushing their dirty and dangerous energy agenda forward.
In response, Slocum wonders,
What will it take?
If the 4 million barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico didn’t prompt them to act, would 10 million?
If the 87 days of around-the-clock experts failing to plug the oil didn’t trigger change, would 150 days?
If 11 workers killed on the oil rig didn’t spark them to enact reforms, would the deaths of a whole fleet of workers?
Add this new accident to the list.
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Allison Fisher is the energy advocacy director for Public Citizen’s energy program.