Drilling Spill Damages House, Enters WV Creek

State regulators are investigating spills from a drilling operation in Ohio County that damaged a house and entered a creek. Media outlets report that more than 6,000 gallons of water and a non-toxic clay mixture called drilling mud entered the basement of a house in Valley Grove last week. Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Tom Aluise told The Intelligencer and Wheeling-News Register that drilling mud from a MarkWest Energy operation also entered Little Wheeling Creek twice last week. About 30 fish died. Aluise said MarkWest will conduct a stream remediation after drilling is completed. MarkWest spokesman Robert McHale said the company is working to minimize the potential for such incidents. McHale said the company also trying to determine how drilling mud entered the house.