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Work underway to plug gas leak near Douglas

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission says that workers from Chesapeake energy are making progress in trying to control a gas leak near Douglas.  Commission Supervisor Tom Doll says that efforts will continue through the weekend.

On Tuesday at the oil rig caused the well to release an unknown quantity of gas into the air,and some residents were evacuated.  Weather conditions hampered containment efforts, but one evacuee, Kristi Mogen,is frustrated that the company is not acting faster. And she’s upset that the wells were drilled so close to her house in the first place.

“The rigs are new,” Mogen said. “We’ve lived there. We can’t just sell our house because somebody’s moving a rig in. We can’t afford that.”

Mogen says she lives in Wyoming because she wants to have clean air, and she says she experienced throat and eye irritations as a result of the gas leak.

Officials say mud has been pumped into the leak, but some more gas may have to be discharged throughout the weekend.

Irina Zhorov is a reporter for Wyoming Public Radio. She earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from the University of Wyoming. In between, she worked as a photographer and writer for Philadelphia-area and national publications. Her professional interests revolve around environmental and energy reporting and she's reported on mining issues from Wyoming, Mexico, and Bolivia. She's been supported by the Dick and Lynn Cheney Grant for International Study, the Eleanor K. Kambouris Grant, and the Social Justice Research Center Research Grant for her work on Bolivian mining and Uzbek alpinism. Her work has appeared on Voice of America, National Native News, and in Indian Country Today, among other publications.
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