Leak at Pennsylvania gas storage well spewing methane

A vent at an underground natural gas storage well in Western Pennsylvania has been spewing massive amounts of planet-warming methane into the atmosphere for more than 11 days and attempts to plug the leak have thus far failed. Owner Equitrans Midstream said the well at its Rager Mountain storage facility, located in a rural area about 1.5 hours east of Pittsburgh, is venting about 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to initial estimates. A written statement provided Friday by Equitrans spokeswoman Natalie Cox said “there are no immediate public safety concerns” and the company has been working with a specialty well services company to plug the leak, which was first reported Nov. 6. The citations issued against the company by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection include failures to properly maintain and operate the gas facility, creating a public nuisance and producing a “hazard to public health a safety.” The company was also cited for failing to provide state inspectors “free and unrestricted access.” Lauren Camarda, spokeswoman for the state environmental agency, said that when members of a state emergency response team first arrived at the site on Nov. 7 they were initially barred from entering and told “access was restricted to critical personnel only.” Cox said that when the state team arrived, Equitrans’ contractors were still in the process of implementing a safety boundary to avoid introducing a potential ignition source that could ignite the highly flammable methane leaking into the air.