Letter to the editor: Concerned about well blowouts in Penn Township

My wife, Marcia, and I live just 0.45 miles from the Apex Energy Drakulic multi unconventional gas-well pad in Penn Township (“Activists continue to protest gas wells in Penn Township,” Oct. 21, TribLIVE). One of our biggest concerns is a well blowout like the one in Belmont County, Ohio, in 2018, when 100 people within a 1-mile radius had to be evacuated by door-to-door notification.

If an event such as this happened in our community, almost 3,000 of us would have to be evacuated and be away from our homes for several days, maybe longer. Who is going to notify us … a few police officers and volunteer firefighters possibly putting themselves in harm’s way? What if Route 130, which is close to the proposed wells, becomes impassable? This is the only route out for a number of us.

The problem is further aggravated by the large number of trees in the area, which could catch on fire. These trees surround a number of homes.

Drilling these wells would knowingly put our citizens at risk. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection should not permit the Drakulic wells. There are too many people close by.

Larry Irr

Trafford