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Pastimes : The Case for Nuclear Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (37)	1/19/2001 8:46:00 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 312

Chalk up one death and hundreds homeless to our fossil fuel society, as a result of trying to store natural gas in a salt mine. There wasn't even this much devastation at TMI: One Dead as Gas Geysers Erupt in Kansas By CARL MANNING .c The Associated Press HUTCHINSON, Kan. (Jan. 19) - Workers tried Friday to plug a leak in a natural gas storage cavern that has allowed escaped gas to shoot 30 feet above ground and explode. One man has been killed and hundreds of residents have been forced to flee. Bright yellow flames fed by the gas continued to burn downtown as crews worked to dig new wells to reduce pressure and transfer gas to other facilities. ''It's not as much a threat as before, but it is still a hazard,'' said Fire Chief Gary Frazier. The leak was blamed for a blast Wednesday that destroyed two businesses and one Thursday at a mobile home park three miles away. John Hahn, 68, died Friday from injuries suffered in that blast, and his wife, Mary Hahn, 64, remained in critical condition. A third victim had minor injuries, said Bill Guy, Reno County emergency management director. ''I went outside to look, and all I could see was a black cloud of smoke,'' said Jim Gregory, one of 80 to 100 people evacuated from a square-mile area around the Big Chief Mobile Home Park. The first blast caused minor injuries to a man and woman. Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt said firefighters were letting a fire in the downtown area and one at the mobile home park burn themselves out. ''We are still looking at it in an optimistic view. We peaked and are walking our way back down the hill,'' Heitschmidt said. Nine geysers remained active on Friday, eight in the evacuated neighborhood and one downtown. The town is 60 miles northwest of Wichita. Experts say the gas is likely coming from a 3.2 billion-cubic-foot storage cavern in Yaggy, seven miles outside Hutchinson. The facility, created 550 feet below ground in salt formations and used by Kansas Gas Service, has registered a hundred-pound drop in pressure. ''The plumes are being reduced by the reduction in pressure,'' Frazier said. The fire chief said the gas may be moving along city water lines, then rising up through 300-foot brine wells dug to mine salt. City Manager Joe Palacioz said many of the wells were drilled decades ago, and no reliable map shows their locations. Heitschmidt said an evacuated industrial park was reopened Friday afternoon. The police chief said residents of an adjacent neighborhood were briefly allowed to return to their homes to retrieve personal items. He did not know when they could return to stay. Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer, who toured the damaged areas late Thursday, signed an emergency declaration authorizing the use of state resources, including the National Guard and state police troopers. ''We will bring in what the community needs. It's that simple,'' Sherrer said.