Crew Spills Gas-well Lubricant Into Pa. Wetland

DIMOCK, Pa. (AP) — Officials say crews drilling natural gas wells spilled more than 8,000 gallons of a chemical lubricant into a northeastern Pennsylvania wetland and creek.

Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Mark Carmon confirmed Friday that his agency was studying samples of the gel-like substance to determine its composition and the potential impact on the ecosystem.

Carmon says the two spills occurred Wednesday at a well being drilled for Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. in Susquehanna County.

Carmon says the substance poured out of a loose pipe that connected a contractor's holding tank to a gas well. He says the material entered a wetland and creek, but that some had been cleaned up.

Cabot spokesman Ken Komoroski says the substance is "relatively innocuous," but may cause eye, skin and breathing irritations.