Wells to Shut Down, Lawsuit Continues

Wells to Shut Down Lawsuit Continues by Katherina Yancy, July 27, 2011, KATV
Faulkner County – The evidence was not concrete, but the Oil and Gas Commission voted unanimously to ban current and future injection wells spanning 11-hundred square miles. That includes parts of Faulkner, Conway, Cleburne, Van Buren and White counties. Commissioner Mike Davis says putting people at possible risk was not right. And even though Sam Lane who filed a class action lawsuit earlier this year against the natural gas companies (BHP Billiton Petroleum, Chesapeake Operating Inc., and Clarita Operating LLC.) is happy with the outcome. He says the damage has been done and he’s suit is still active. Lane says he filed for a loss of real estate market value, emotional distress, structure damage and having to purchase earthquake insurance. He points, “We noticed this crack here just a couple of days after the 4.7, the largest earthquake we had out of all of them.” Rather than get used to the earthquakes that started rattling Faulkner County nearly a year ago Sam Lane decided to investigate by requesting seismic data from the state and plotting them. He recalls, “We started feeling sometime dozens a day.” He lives within miles of three injection wells; two were temporarily shut down pending the outcome of the Oil and Gas Commission meeting this week. “When they shut them down the earthquakes almost stopped.” … Lane attended the hearing; he’s relieved by the outcome, but isn’t letting up on the lawsuit. “I’ve talked to people who have tens of thousands of dollars in damage; they’ve basically described their home being split in half.”

We first told you Tuesday the owners of three wells in Faulkner County agreed to plug them permanently, but the well owned by deep six refused, saying there wasn’t concrete evidence. … Wednesday, the Oil and Gas Commission voted unanimously to ban current and future injection/disposal wells in the area that includes Faulkner, Cleburne, Van Buren, Conway and White Counties.

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