Explosion increases fracking fears …

A major explosion at a West Virginia fracking site in Doddridge County has caused five workers to be sent to hospital with life-threatening burns. Several others were injured in the blast when two storage tanks containing brine and fracking fluid exploded at 4 a.m. on Sunday 7th July. A Reuters report says residents and activists have long complained about safety practices by Antero, the oil and natural gas company operating in the state, where they draw natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation. The company’s vice president said, ‘We do not know the ignition source, but we suspect it was a methane explosion.’

Frackers already have a shoddy safety record in West Virginia. In April, two workers were killed and two others were injured by an explosion at a frack site in Tyler County. The Boston marathon bombings overshadowed these deaths, which were unpublicised, but Afternet published a feature article that included a series of photographs fracking-related accidents, including the photo below, by the Wetzel Action Group