Updated: Workers to tackle spewing well in the morning
By Vickie Welborn • vwelborn@gannett.com • May 8, 2009


NABORTON — Workers will wait until Saturday morning to tackle a well east of Mansfield that is spewing natural gas into the air, prompting about 20 people to voluntarily leave their homes for tonight.


Meantime, DeSoto sheriff’s deputies, DeSoto Fire District 8 volunteers and DeSoto EMS personnel will baby-sit the well through the night, said a deputy at the scene along Power Point Road and state Highway 3248.

Roads in and around the area have been blocked to traffic, forcing employees of the nearby Dolet Hills Power Plant to take alternate routes to and from work during shift changes.

Those displaced from their homes were instructed to go to DeSoto Detention Center to be contacted by Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has made arrangements to put them up for the night at a hotel or motel in Shreveport because the two lodgings in Mansfield are full of oil and natural gas workers.

Kevin McCotter, director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy’s Louisiana operations, said he learned some opted to stay with relatives or friends. And DeSoto sheriff’s Sgt. Chato Atkins said at least three people have declined to vacate their residences.

As of now, the well still is not under control. But personnel with a specialty well control firm are arriving from as far as Oklahoma to evaluate the situation that is being monitored by state police’s hazardous materials unit and state Department of Environmental Quality workers.

The “well control event” at the Nabors 10H-1 well owned by Chesapeake Energy was reported about 5 p.m.

“Equipment was being installed in the completions process, and gas started spewing from equipment before it was finally in place,” McCotter explained. He and other Chesapeake Energy representatives plan to be on site into tonight and return Saturday.

State police and DEQ also are expected to investigate. “We are cooperating fully,” McCotter said.

He was uncertain when the well would be brought under control. “I’m unable to give an estimated time of completion at this point.”

Allowing the continued release of natural gas is an acceptable practice, McCotter said, because the gas dissipates into the air. “Air quality monitoring will be taking place throughout the area in order to ensure there is no threat to public safety.”

Emergency personnel continue to monitor the air quality from different points to ensure no other evacuations are needed. The power plant is a concern if the wind shifts, authorities said.


Buck