Out Of Control Fracking Well Displaces Eastern Ohio Families

An out-of-control natural gas fracking well has kept 25 families from their homes for the past three days in eastern Ohio. The Monroe County well had been temporarily plugged while work was being done elsewhere onsite. But when workers tried to resume production operations Saturday afternoon, the well began to flow uncontrollably. The families were evacuated from houses within a 1.5-mile radius of the well, located near the Ohio River about 160 miles east of Columbus. Bethany McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources, says the well is not on fire but the gas could be explosive. She cold not say when the well will be fixed. The well is operated by Triad Hunter, a subsidiary of Houston-based Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. that also has offices in Marietta in southeastern Ohio.