2013-03-12 loud sounds
3
Search Browse Archives Shoppers Guide Weekend Edition Click for weather forecast The noise that residents said was coming from Steckman Ridge’s compressor station in Monroe Township, shown in this 2010 photo, prompted a visit by Everett Fire Company Saturday night. Residents also said they spotted smoke. A company spokeswoman said Monday there was no smoke and “no incident.” Gazette File Photo Residents report loud sounds at compressor station By Elizabeth Coyle Gazette Associate Editor MATTIE — No problems or malfunctions occurred at the compressor station south of Clearville although residents saw smoke and heard sounds like electrical “snapping” and “popping” that sounded similar to firecrackers coming from the Spectra Energy plant Saturday night. Everett Fire Company responded to the Steckman Ridge compressor station after calls from residents. Michele Beegle and Angel Smith said the event was alarming. They are neighbors who live about a half-mile away from the station that has the capacity to store 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas in a depleted underground gas field in the Clearville area. Beegle said the strange noises lasted about three hours. During the incident, Beegle said she and her husband, Robert, smelled an acrid odor. “I went out about 9 (p.m.) and my husband went out about 9:30 and I said ‘Listen, (another neighbor) must be setting off firecrackers.’ It sounded like firecrackers.” 2013-03-12 / Front Page Residents report loud sounds at compressor station | www.bedfordgazette... https://bedfordgazette.our-hometown.com/news/2013-03-12/Front_Page/... 1 of 3 5/20/2015 9:51 PM
-
Upload
shalefield-stories -
Category
Documents
-
view
8 -
download
0
description
Residents report loud sounds at compressor station | www.bedfordgazette... https://bedfordgazette.our-hometown.com/news/2013-03-12/Front_Page/...Shoppers Guide Weekend EditionClick for weather forecast2013-03-12 / Front PageResidents report loud sounds at compressor stationSearchBrowse ArchivesBy Elizabeth Coyle Gazette Associate EditorThe noise that residents said was coming from Steckman Ridge’s compressor station in Monroe Township, shown in this 2010 photo, prompted a visit by Everett Fire Company Saturday night. Residents also said they spotted smoke. A company spokeswoman said Monday there was no smoke and “no incident.” Gazette File PhotoMATTIE — No problems or malfunctions occurred at the compressor station south of Clearville although residents saw smoke and heard sounds like electrical “snapping” and “popping” that sounded similar to firecrackers coming from the Spectra Energy plant Saturday night.Everett Fire Company responded to the Steckman Ridge compressor station after calls from residents.Michele Beegle and Angel Smith said the event was alarming. They are neighbors who live about a half-mile away from the station that has the capacity to store 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas in a depleted underground gas field in the Clearville area.Beegle said the strange noises lasted about three hours. During the incident, Beegle said she and her husband, Robert, smelled an acrid odor.“I went out about 9 (p.m.) and my husband went out about 9:30 and I said ‘Listen, (another neighbor) must be setting off firecrackers.’ It sounded like firecrackers.”1 of 3 5/20/2015 9:51 PMResidents report loud sounds at compressor station | www.bedfordgazette... https://bedfordgazette.our-hometown.com/news/2013-03-12/Front_Page/...She said her husband said it sounded like popping, similar to electrical sounds. Her brother-in-law, who lives closer to the station, also called her and said he saw the station was “smoking.”Smith said she heard “snapping and cracking and popping. And there was smoke coming out of the building,” she said.Spectra Energy spokeswoman Marylee Hanley said there was no smoke and no need for the fire company to respond to the station.She said the incident was simply a pressure release valve acting as it should to release pressure. “It is a protection device. It operated as designed,” she said.Spectra employees responded along with the fire company. “There was no need for them. The only reason (the fire company) came on our property was to turn around and leave.”Hanley said “there was no problem.” The release valve “is a protection device,” Hanley added.“When it’s required to provide some release to the system, that’s what it does,” she said after talking to the area manager for Steckman Ridge.She said she had no explanation for the different sounds. “Maybe it was quiet that night. I don’t know.”The snapping and cracking sound is clearly audible on a homeowner’s video made Saturday evening as Everett firefighters responded.A failed valve caused at least one other problem in the storage field that caused an emergency response. A failed seal in a well valve failed at Spectra Energy’s well along big Creek Road in October of 2010 causing a venting of natural gas.The compressor station itself had to shut down its operations a few times several years ago. Most notably, the station shut down and the company was fined after a malfunction caused gear lubricant to be dispersed over the neighborhood.The state Department of Environmental Protection fined the company not only for the release but for its failure to notify DEP.A second release of oil occurred in October of 2010, prompting a second notice of violation.Everett Fire Company’s incident report shows firefighters were dispatched at 9:50 p.m. to the compressor station about 10 miles south of Everett. Volunteers were back in service at 11:09 p.m.“We responded with all of our units and
Transcript of 2013-03-12 loud sounds
Search
Browse ArchivesShoppers Guide Weekend Edition
Click for weather forecast
The noise that residents said was coming
from Steckman Ridge’s compressor
station in Monroe Township, shown in this
2010 photo, prompted a visit by Everett
Fire Company Saturday night. Residents
also said they spotted smoke. A company
spokeswoman said Monday there was no
smoke and “no incident.” Gazette File
Photo
Residents report loud sounds at compressor station
By Elizabeth Coyle
Gazette Associate Editor
MATTIE — No problems or malfunctions occurred at the
compressor station south of Clearville although residents saw
smoke and heard sounds like electrical “snapping” and “popping”
that sounded similar to firecrackers coming from the Spectra
Energy plant Saturday night.
Everett Fire Company responded to the Steckman Ridge
compressor station after calls from residents.
Michele Beegle and Angel Smith said the event was alarming.
They are neighbors who live about a half-mile away from the
station that has the capacity to store 12 billion cubic feet of
natural gas in a depleted underground gas field in the Clearville
area.
Beegle said the strange noises lasted about three hours. During
the incident, Beegle said she and her husband, Robert, smelled an acrid odor.
“I went out about 9 (p.m.) and my husband went out about 9:30 and I said ‘Listen, (another neighbor) must
be setting off firecrackers.’ It sounded like firecrackers.”
2013-03-12 / Front Page
Residents report loud sounds at compressor station | www.bedfordgazette... https://bedfordgazette.our-hometown.com/news/2013-03-12/Front_Page/...
1 of 3 5/20/2015 9:51 PM
She said her husband said it sounded like popping, similar to electrical sounds. Her brother-in-law, who lives
closer to the station, also called her and said he saw the station was “smoking.”
Smith said she heard “snapping and cracking and popping. And there was smoke coming out of the
building,” she said.
Spectra Energy spokeswoman Marylee Hanley said there was no smoke and no need for the fire company
to respond to the station.
She said the incident was simply a pressure release valve acting as it should to release pressure. “It is a
protection device. It operated as designed,” she said.
Spectra employees responded along with the fire company. “There was no need for them. The only reason
(the fire company) came on our property was to turn around and leave.”
Hanley said “there was no problem.” The release valve “is a protection device,” Hanley added.
“When it’s required to provide some release to the system, that’s what it does,” she said after talking to the
area manager for Steckman Ridge.
She said she had no explanation for the different sounds.
“Maybe it was quiet that night. I don’t know.”
The snapping and cracking sound is clearly audible on a homeowner’s video made Saturday evening as
Everett firefighters responded.
A failed valve caused at least one other problem in the storage field that caused an emergency response. A
failed seal in a well valve failed at Spectra Energy’s well along big Creek Road in October of 2010 causing
a venting of natural gas.
The compressor station itself had to shut down its operations a few times several years ago. Most notably,
the station shut down and the company was fined after a malfunction caused gear lubricant to be dispersed
over the neighborhood.
The state Department of Environmental Protection fined the company not only for the release but for its
failure to notify DEP.
A second release of oil occurred in October of 2010, prompting a second notice of violation.
Everett Fire Company’s incident report shows firefighters were dispatched at 9:50 p.m. to the compressor
station about 10 miles south of Everett. Volunteers were back in service at 11:09 p.m.
“We responded with all of our units and had Southern Cove on standby,” Ron Morse said. “We confirmed
what we had in order to protect the people out there. Once we got there and secured the scene, we
released the scene on to (Spectra employees),” Morse said.
Morse, chief of the Everett Fire Company, said he didn’t personally respond to the scene and couldn’t
comment as to the smoke residents said they saw.
The only thing that was released was “air,” Hanley said. “Nothing was released. There was no smoke. No
Residents report loud sounds at compressor station | www.bedfordgazette... https://bedfordgazette.our-hometown.com/news/2013-03-12/Front_Page/...
2 of 3 5/20/2015 9:51 PM
incident.”
Beegle said she smelled an pungent odor Saturday night and had an unusually dry mouth.
“I couldn’t get enough to drink. My tongue felt slick but it was dry at the same time,” she said.
Beegle said, frankly, the compressor station can be scary.
“If that thing explodes, it’s going to wipe out this whole community out here,” she said, adding she had
trouble sleeping. “You were terrified. You didn’t know if something was going to blow or what.”
Return to top
Copyright 2012-15 The Bedford Gazette. All rights reserved.
Regional Classifieds is a link to www.BargainSheet.net, a regional classifieds
marketplace where online visitors can search classifieds and display ads published in
the print edition of The Bargain Sheet, and classifieds from Bedford Gazette,
Gettysburg Times, Morning Times, Philipsburg Journal, Shoppers Guide, The
Daily Herald, The Daily News, The Shippensburg News-Chronicle, The Newville Valley Times-Star, The
Standard-Journal, Latrobe Bulletin, The Corry Journal, Union City Journal Express, The North East News-Journal,
The West County News-Journal, The Warren County Guide, and Mainline Newspapers (The Mountaineer-Herald,
Mainline Extra, The Mainliner, The Dispatch, The Journal and The Star-Courier), which are affiliate publications of
Sample News Group, a regional newspaper company.
Newspaper web site content management software and services
Residents report loud sounds at compressor station | www.bedfordgazette... https://bedfordgazette.our-hometown.com/news/2013-03-12/Front_Page/...
3 of 3 5/20/2015 9:51 PM
