Teams to Plug Hole in Gas Well Blast
Charleston Gazette
14 June 2010
By The Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Efforts to cap a gas well that exploded last week
and injured seven workers will probably begin Tuesday.
State Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Kathy Cosco
said Monday the state has reviewed and approved plans to plug the hole
that shot flames of burning methane gas for five days.
Texas-based Union Drilling Inc. was sinking a natural gas well through
an abandoned coal mine near Moundsville when it hit methane.
What caused the ignition remains under investigation. The fire ended
Friday.
Meanwhile, the state is reviewing all West Virginia operations of the
permit holder, AB Resources of Ohio. The DEP says failures to comply
with the permit criteria may have created conditions that led to the
blast.