SARDIS - For a 10th consecutive day, people living near a giant Magnum Hunter Utica Shale natural gas well needed to find somewhere to spend the night, as a geyser of methane spouted from the Stalder well site.
"We just kind of expect things like this to happen," said evacuee Krista McPeek, who said she can see three separate well sites from her house. "A lot of people just thought about the money. These are the kind of things that can happen."
Since Dec. 13, residents of about 30 homes living near the well have remain displaced at night as part of the ongoing emergency situation. Hours of evacuation during the day have fluctuated depending on what type of work is taking place at the site at that particular time, as Wild Well Control and Magnum Hunter subsidiary Triad Hunter officials try to place a new wellhead on the well that has a vertical shaft about two miles deep and a horizontal leg about one mile long.
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Photo by Casey Junkins
A natural gas stream of 97-percent methane spouts from the Triad Hunter Stalder well pad near Sardis Monday, just as it has since Dec. 13.
Monroe County Emergency Management Director Phillip Keevert said people need to be away at night because the gas is more likely to collect along the ground and because it is more difficult to conduct an emergency evacuation in the dark.
"There are a few people who have refused to leave," Keevert said. "We don't have the authority to truly force them to leave. We alert them to the danger, but they have to make the decision."
Keevert said most of those who leave at night have been fortunate to stay with family and friends. He said Triad pays the hotel and travel bills for anyone who cannot find somewhere to spend the night, as he said some went to hotels in New Martinsville or Marietta, Ohio.
"Triad Hunter seems to be a company that does care," Keevert said. "They have had someone here every day."
Keevert said 97 percent of the material shooting upward is methane. He is unsure how much gas has escaped over the last 10 days. Magnum Hunter information states the well achieved flow rate of 32.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day earlier this year.
Monroe County, along with Belmont, Harrison and Noble counties in eastern Ohio, lies at the epicenter of the Utica Shale natural gas rush.
Industry leaders believe hundreds or even thousands of wells will end up being drilled in this area over the next several years.
"Just like any industry, there are going to be accidents," Keevert said. "This is just the beginning."
McPeek evacuated with her husband and children to stay at her mother's house. She is also a member of the Sardis Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, a group which has been cooking and serving meals to both the out-of-town workers and the displaced residents every day since Dec. 13. McPeek and her mother, Linda Venham, said Triad Hunter is paying for the food in addition to compensating those who have to travel to hotels.
"I can see how it would be an inconvenience for the elderly," McPeek said. "But it is here. There is no stopping it."
Venham continued feeding displaced people at the Family Assistance Center Monday.
"For a bad thing that has happened, it has been a positive experience," she said. "The gas people are nice and very polite. We are tired, though."
Over the summer, an explosion at the Statoil Eisenbarth well pad near Hannibal caused plumes of black smoke to be seen for miles, as well the death of 70,000 fish and aquatic life. Keevert is thankful this well leak has not resulted in a blast.
"They are still putting that well pad back together," he said.
Keevert, McPeek and Venham hope the event will come to a complete end in time for Christmas.
"I am sure this won't be the last of these," Venham added.
