Gas discharge noise startles neighbors - again

By Robert L. Baker (Staff Writer) Published: November 24, 2012
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ROBERT BAKER / TIMES-SHAMROCKA gas dehydration plant in Monroe Township, Wyoming County, just off Route 309 near the Luzerne County line sent material 50 to 100 feet into the atmosphere Friday morning with a noise level that alarmed neighbors of the facility.

MONROE TWP. - Elizabeth Ide said her husband, Mark, rousted her out of bed around 3 a.m. Friday, but not to go after post-Thanksgiving sales.

There was a loud noise that apparently came from a nearby gas dehydration facility, and it went on and on, she said, for more than 30 minutes.

"He tried to get us dressed and out the door, but we weren't even sure if we were better off staying indoors," Ide said. "There were no warnings and no one ever explained anything."

Friday's incident marked the second time since September that a deafening sound from the dehydration facility startled neighbors.

Kunkle Fire Chief Jack Dodson said he had tankers and an ambulance near the Chapin Dehydration Plant's driveway entrance to Hildebrandt Road within minutes, "but our protocol is not to enter a gas site until the plant operator arrives."

Dodson acknowledged he heard the loud noise, saying it was akin to a freight train going by or a large plane landing, and it was emanating from something being spewed in the air 50 to 100 feet.

People five miles away near Frances Slocum State Park apparently heard it and numerous residents from Dallas Township, Luzerne County, and Monroe Township, Wyoming County were alarmed, Dodson said.

The tone went out over Luzerne County 911 at 2:57 a.m. and Kunkle responded at 2:59, Dodson said. PVR Partners plant operator John Stoner was on scene 20 minutes later and the gas flow was shut down at 3:32. Kunkle emergency responders were back at the station by 4:30.

Ed Senavaitis, safety and regulatory compliance manager for PVR Partners, based in Williamsport, said a safety device at the Chapin facility operated as intended. As of early Friday afternoon, there was still an ongoing investigation as to what set it off.

Senavaitis said there was no overcompression of the line, but something malfunctioned, "and we'll conduct an investigation until we figure it out."

He said he had no idea about the volume of material that evaporated or dissipated into the atmosphere.

"The safety device is designed to relieve gas as needed and when our manager arrived, he closed a valve and put everything back into normal operations mode," Senavaitis said.

Dodson said before the valve was closed, people were contacted at the Transco line, where the gas is fed, and at Chesapeake, a major supplier of gas being moved from the Baker-Hirkey Compressor Station in Washington Township - another PVR Partners facility - southward through the Chapin facility.

Dodson and Senavaitis confirmed that at no time was any individual in danger.

Still, Elizabeth Ide said she wanted answers.

"I thought there wasn't supposed to be any noise, and here we've had two incidents," she said.

Dodson said the whole incident was a wake-up call that some emergency protocols obviously still have to be worked out.

Looking at a spill prevention, control, and countermeasure plan that Chief Energy established when the Chapin plant was built, Dodson said he had two very serious questions for PVR Partners after a similar incident of a shorter duration occurred on Sept. 30.

In that incident, neither the fire company nor Wyoming County 911 was notified.

In Friday's incident, Luzerne County 911, which notified Kunkle Fire Company, did not in turn notify 911 in Wyoming County, where the plant is actually located.

So Dodson wants to know first, why PVR Partners did not rewrite the Chapin plan after they took over Chief Gathering's Marcellus assets earlier this year?

Secondly, he wants to know why the established protocol that seems very clear - including contact of Wyoming County EMA - as established by Chief was not followed.

He said late Friday afternoon he was getting answers, even if a little late, and he anticipated a new SPCC plan would be forthcoming this week by PVR Partners.

As soon as that arrives, Dodson said he is working out a timetable about how to better keep the public informed as to what's going on.

While Dodson does not want to downplay the fear factor that the loud noises created in both incidents, he wants to see some mechanism in place that lets the public know if they are actually in danger.

He said the siren at the Kunkle fire hall will go off at 11 a.m. Dec. 15 as a test drill so the public can hear and know when it goes off after that date that they might be in real danger.

Ide said that given the noise of Friday's incident, she's not even sure they'd be able to hear the siren.

Still, Dodson wants to work something out.

"We were lucky this time, and not a few people were very nervous," he said. "We all deserve better than that."

bbaker@wcexaminer.com

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