Wyoming County Gas Well Spill Forces Evacuations

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.

March 14, 2013 | 12:35 PM

The Scranton Times-Tribune reports that waste water is flowing from a gas well in Washington Township, Wyoming County. Three families have been evacuated and are staying in nearby hotels. More from the Times-Tribune:

The well was releasing the salty, chemically treated wastewater at around 800 gallons a minute but the flow has since been reduced to 400 gallons a minute, [said DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly]. About 5,400 barrels of the fluid have been captured in tanks and about 3,100 barrels of that has been trucked off site. There are 42 gallons in a barrel.
Some of the fluid is running off the pad but a temporary catch basin has been set up across the road on an adjacent leased property to contain it, she said. A well control crew is scheduled to arrive on site later this morning.

The well is operated by the Texas-based Carrizo Oil and Gas. Recent well site data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection shows Carrizo has 107 active wells in the state, and has paid more than $20,000 in fines for 48 violations.