Subcontractor in deadly Pa. well blast had fines

The employer of two workers killed in an oil and gas well explosion last week had paid nearly $10,000 in federal workplace safety fines for two other well fires, including a 2007 explosion that burned an employee, records show.

Officials at Northeast Energy Management Inc. of Indiana, Pa., did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday about the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration records.

The explosion and fire Friday was the third since September 2007 involving Northeast Energy Management workers at a western Pennsylvania well, OSHA spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Fortson confirmed.

Huntley & Huntley Inc. of Monroeville, the drilling company that owned the well, has a clean OSHA record, Uddyback-Fortson said.

Northeast Management was cited for 10 serious violations, and one other violation after the September 2007 explosion and fire at a well near Sligo in Clarion County, OSHA records show.

Workers at a natural gas well "were exposed to an unsafe air mixture environment resulting in an explosion and fire causing injuries," OSHA said. A piece of equipment called the blowout preventer had been removed, causing the well to spew natural gas for two hours before an attempt was made to cap the well, the records show.

OSHA proposed $12,442 in fines, and Northeast Energy eventually paid $5,965 to settle seven of the 10 serious violations, records show.

In November 2008, the company was fined $4,000 for a drilling rig fire in Charleroi in Washington County.

"No employees were injured, and we cited them for electrical wiring and equipment that was not approved for hazardous locations," Uddyback-Fortson said.

OSHA and other investigators have yet to determine the cause of Friday's explosion in Indiana Township that killed Northeast Energy employees Andy Yosurak Jr., 56, of Creekside, and Kevin Henry, 46, of New Florence.

At least one of the workers was welding an oil tank at the shallow oil and natural gas well when the tank exploded and set the well on fire, according to Helen Humphreys, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The tank rocketed 70 yards away, and the workers were badly burned and hurled dozens of feet by the blast, investigators have said. They've yet to pinpoint the cause of the explosion.

DEP Secretary John Hanger said he hopes the agency will report on the cause of the blast within 45 days. The law gives OSHA six months to do that, Uddyback-Fortson said.

Huntley officials did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday, including whether they still use Northeast Energy to maintain Huntley wells.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner has yet to release the cause of death on the two workers, saying that is pending the outcome of investigations into the explosion's cause.

The well is in Indiana Township in Allegheny County, about 15 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Northeast Energy is based in Indiana borough, about 45 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Indiana County.