Times-Tribune: Small explosion at Wyoming County well pad

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

January 7, 2015 | 1:59 PM

An explosion occurred at a natural gas well pad on the Proctor & Gamble plant in Wyoming County Wednesday morning, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune. The company uses the gas beneath its property to help power its operations. Officials say it was quickly contained and caused no injuries. More from the Times-Tribune:

Around 9:45 a.m., P&G employees heard a loud sound from Warren Resources Inc.’s pad on Route 87, across from the company’s paper products plant, spokesman Alex Fried said.

“We heard it,” Mr. Fried said. “Within minutes, Warren called us and assured us there was no gas leak, injury or environmental incident.”

A few extra pickup trucks stood near the pad’s entrance within 12 minutes of dispatches by the Wyoming County Emergency Management Agency. Nothing else looked out of the ordinary.

Warren Resources vice president for corporate development Jeff Keeler confirmed a small volume of gas ignited on the pad. Workers on site were able to extinguish it, he said. The incident will cause no impact to Warren’s operations, he said.