Gas Pipeline Safety Regulations

Here is an article from the Rocket Courier of Wyalusing about the enactment of legislation that would enhance the safety of gas pipelines in Pennsylvania.  House Bill 344 permits the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to have regulatory oversight of natural gas lines.

“Currently, Pennsylvania is one of a very few states that produce natural gas that does not give the authority of gas lines to a state entity, and as a result, there is no designated agency to ensure compliance for a number of safety regulations,” Pickett said. “The influx of activity in the Marcellus Shale region and the increasing demand for this type of energy has necessitated action on this legislation, and I am pleased to see this bill finally moving to the governor.”

The legislation gives the PUC the power to inspect and investigate natural gas pipelines with the Commonwealth in coordination with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration.

The article's slant is toward protecting landowners, which is important, in and of itself.  But it will also protect gas workers.  There has been rash of gas pipeline explosions that has killed and injured dozens throughout the state.  Hopefully this legislation will cut down those types of injuries.  We will have to wait and see.

April Proves Tough Month for Gas Drillers

From the Wyalusing Rocket Courier:

Mounting Protests and Government Crackdowns Challenge Industry

April has perhaps been the most difficult stretch of time yet faced by companies related to the natural gas drilling industry, especially in Bradford County. The heated rancor of the public was already reaching a fever pitch when Chesapeake Energy’s Atgas 2H well in Leroy Township experienced a serious malfunction on April 19 that spewed thousands of gallons of toxic fracking water, much of which ran off into a tributary of Towanda Creek.

Earlier in the month, state environmental regulators asked the gas companies to voluntarily suspend the controversial practice of discharging extracted fracking water into rivers and streams. Meanwhile, local municipalities are refusing to allow the companies to construct wastewater treatment plants. Citizens in towns along both branches of the Susquehanna River are mounting objections to additional drafting of river water for fracking purposes.

The gas well blow-out and mounting public opposition to almost every aspect of gas drilling prompted Bradford County Commissioner Mark W. Smith to compose a stern letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett.

“Issue after issue has arisen in Bradford County in relation to the development of natural gas,” Smith stated at the beginning of his letter. Smith went on to detail several key gas-related issues that have affected the residents of Bradford County in ways, he asserts, that are not being addressed at the state level.

Among his concerns are recent reports that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spends an average of 35 minutes deliberating the approval of new gas well permits. “This is an appalling statistic considering the significant impact of a natural gas drilling site and even more appalling considering that there have been nearly 2,000 gas wells permitted in Bradford County.”

Many issues faced by injured Marcellus gas workers

Given the fact that my office is in the heart of the Marcellus Shale gas fields in Northeast Pennsylvania, my firm has seen a huge increase in the amount of workers who have been injured while working at the gas drilling sites and/or working for the gas industry in other capacities, such as water tanker drivers, welders and general laborers. These gas industry cases have some unique issues that arise given the type of work performed and the type and location of employer.

1. One of the more common questions that arise is which state’s workers’ compensation law should apply? You would think that this would not be an issue since the injured worker was injured while working in Pennsylvania. And that is what Pennsylvania’s law calls for—if you are injured in PA then PA workers’ compensation law applies. But what I have been seeing in some cases is the employer attempting to apply the law of the state in which the employer is from. Many of the businesses that work in the gas fields are not based out of Pennsylvania, but are based out of states like Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee, to name a few. For example, one of the largest gas companies working in this area, Chesapeake Energy, has corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City.

In many instances, these employers argue that the employee was actually hired in the other state and is thus subject to that state’s workers’ compensation laws. Once again, this is not accurate. In these cases, it does not matter where the employee was actually hired because once the injury occurs in Pennsylvania then that’s the state that will apply. Pennsylvania has one of the strongest workers’ compensation laws in the nation.

2. The second issue that I often see in these cases is injured workers fearful of actually reporting work injuries due to the threat of losing one’s job and being sent packing. Of course, this fear is prevalent in most industries, but it appears to be a big problem in the gas industry. One of the issues is that a lot of the workers are from out of state and they are paid a significant amount of money at these jobs. The idea is that if they “rock the boat” and complain about a work injury, then they will be sent back home and would be “blacklisted” and never be able to work again at a gas drilling site.

3. The most important issue, in my opinion, is that it’s dangerous work! I have seen many more fatalities in this industry than in any other type of industry in which I represent injured workers. There are more fatalities in the Marcellus Shale gas industry than even long haul truck drivers who are subject to truck crashes every day. It seems that at least once a month there is a newspaper article about the death of another gas worker. Just this week, in Potter County, a worker who was walking on a pipeline was struck by a truck and suffered a fatal injury. At this point I cannot tell if it is just dangerous work by nature or a significant lack of safety procedures on the drill sites. It is probably a combination of both, however.

If you are a gas industry worker and have been injured, please talk to an experienced workers’ compensation attorney before you sign anything for your employer.

Worker suffers 'traumatic injury' at gas well site in Sullivan County

From the Towanda Daily Review:

An individual suffered a traumatic injury Friday at a gas well site just west of Shunk in Sullivan County, the Sullivan County director of emergency services said.

There was a rig at the well site, said Sullivan County Emergency Services Director Sean Thibodeault, who added that he did not know if drilling was under way at the time.

Brian Grove, senior director for corporate development at Chesapeake Energy Corp., confirmed that the well pad site where the injury occurred was a Chesapeake Appalachia location.

Grove said that the injured person worked for Patterson-UTI Drilling Co., which is a contractor hired by Chesapeake Appalachia. The person was working at the site when the injury occurred, he said.

The injured worker was transported by helicopter to an area hospital, Thibodeault said.