The Spill at Buckeye Creek

The Office of Oil and Gas Final Report

The Office of Oil and Gas released its Buckeye Creek Discharge Final Report in June 2010. Their website also presents two other reports, Downstream Strategies' report for Louanne Fatora and the Water Assessment Branch May 2010 survey of Buckeye Creek (the Water Assessment Branch's November 2009 survey is included in the Office's Final Report as an appendix).

The Final Report collects and presents (in the appendices) all the pertinent information about the spill. Its text provides a description of the cleanup effort based on Inspector Scranage's report and an overview of the laboratory analyses of samples. What is missing is the reason why the spill was linked to Tapo Energy's Powell #7 well or an assessment of the cause of the spill and whether it was preventable.

Also missing is a map to help locate the features of the cleanup described or locations of samples collected for laboratory analysis by various entities. The Water Assessment Branch reports do include maps, locations where samples were collected and photographs.

Our comments on the Office's Final Report can be downloaded. We believe the Office could have done more to determine the source and cause of the spill.

Go to the next page -- Conclusions.

 

The Spill at Buckeye Creek

Background
Photos, part 1
Photos, part 2
Photos, part 3
Photos, part 4
Timeline
Laboratory Tests
The Office of Oil and Gas Final Report
Conclusions


Gas Well Study is the examination of natural gas wells in West Virginia.

Underground Injection Control Class 2 Wells
These wells are used either for the disposal of oil and gas liquid waste or for the enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas.

Gas Well Study Site Visits
Annual reports, environmental assessments, and individual well information.

YouTube Videos
Select videos from the Gas Well Study YouTube channel.

What Happened at Fernow
An investigation into what caused the vegetation death in the land application area after landspraying hydraulic fracture flowback waste.

The Spill at Buckeye Creek
An investigation into a spill from a Marcellus well site into Buckeye Creek in Doddridge county.


The Details

Plunger Lift Technology on Gas Wells
Fluids Brought to the Surface during Production
Plugging a Well
How To Read a Lab Report
Information the Completion Report Provides
Casing and Cementing