There Goes the Lake: "Did we do that?"

There used to be a lake here.
Duke Lake provided Greene County (PA) residents with a popular spot to fish, boat, and swim.

Six years ago, the earth moved in Greene County, PA.  A dam at Ryerson Station State Park's 62-acre Duke Lake cracked as a result of longwall mining nearby.  The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources was forced to drain the lake because of safety concerns.  Litigation ensued.  Consol Energy is responsible for the crack in the dam.  But now they don't want to pay to replace the dam.

Duke Lake is still dry.  Here is the latest advisory:

8/17/2011 1:56:00 PM

Duke Lake at Ryerson Station State Park was drawn down on 7/28/05 due to concerns about the dam. As a result there is currently no lake, no boating and only limited trout fishing available at the park until the concerns can be addressed and the lake refilled. The limited trout fishing areas are in the stream above what once was the lake near the iron bridge, and below the breached dam. The park is still open for camping, hiking, and picniking year-round and when in season, the swimming pool is open

Read the PennFuture article here.

Here's Don Hopey's article published August 25, 2011, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  A judge will issue a decision as to whether Consol Energy will have to pay for the damages soon.

Gas Well Pads Are Extremely Dangerous Places

A well explodes in Forth Worth, Texas

Beware!  Do not go near gas drilling well pads. 


To: Advis...@PaForestCoalition.org

Subject: Details of the Carmichaels Gas Site Accident: Greene County (PA) Incident

On August 20, we received a report of an accident at an East Resources site on South Muddy Creek Road, Carmichaels (Greene County) .  The report claimed that a worker's flashlight set off a methane explosion from a "brine tank" (industry buzzword for flowback water?)  It was very strange that there was no word of this from DEP or the media. Finally, on August 26, we received this confirmation from DEP via Kathy Davis:

“There was an incident where a water hauler was on the top of a tank and he said when he checked the tank with a flashlight, it flashed on him. Burning him on the hands and face. He went to the hospital and was treated and released. The company contacted our Greene county oil and gas inspector and we were notified of the incident.  The cause of the ignition was never proven and new protocols have been initiated by the company including no water transfers after hours, no flashlights, lighters or anything that is not intrinsically safe.  The department is supplying our inspectors with intrinsically safe flashlights and related equipment as needed.  Ignoring the fact that no unauthorized people should ever be on a well location, tank or anywhere near the wellhead themselves. Gas wells, locations and the equipment used on the locations by their very nature must be assumed to be flammable atmospheres. One should never be discharging a firearm, smoking, burning, taking pictures, using a cell phone, running gasoline or diesel engines anywhere on or near the location without the proper protocols being put in place.  And just to be clear, no one should ever be hunting from the top of any brine, oil or fluids tanks associated with any oil or gas wells in the commonwealth or anywhere in the country for that matter. . . “

Michael H. Arch, PG
Oil and Gas Inspector Supervisor
412-442-4010

Dick Martin, Coordinator

The Pennsylvania Forest Coalition is a unique alliance of hunters, hikers, anglers, landowners, wildlife-watchers, paddlers, bikers, churches and conservation groups who are united in our concern for the good stewardship of our public lands.

Caring for what God has created http://www.paforestcoalition.org/.  You can give up eating Gulf Coast shrimp, but you can't give up drinking Pennsylvania water.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

In Memory of Karen Korrell

SPLASHDOWN

1944-2010