Discovery of well’s casing stub brings guarded optimism in Wheatley

WHEATLEY — Officials investigating the ongoing gas leak in Wheatley have made progress in bringing an abandoned well to the surface.

On Monday, January 10, the casing stub for the abandoned well identified as APEC 2 (Area of Potential Environmental Concern 2) was exposed. Work continued through the week to bring the well casing (located in a municipal parking lot) to surface.

Excavation at APEC 2 to expose the casing stub of an abandoned well behind the Car Barn Restaurant and Sports Palace.

Bringing the abandoned well to surface level enables the team to monitor the well which will assist with identifying future activities and mitigation options.

Workers on site are connecting the well to the test separator and installing monitoring equipment as was done with the first well (APEC 1).

The test separator and venting system connected to APEC 1 remains in place, which functions to improves the overall safety of the site.

Residents and property owners seeking temporary access to check on their properties are required to register with the municipality for scheduling purposes and to allow emergency personnel to determine if the property is safe to enter.

To date, 69 appointments have been completed and 21 appointments are ready to be booked for properties evacuated but not in the immediate vicinity of the August 26 blast. Officials are still prohibiting access to those sites due to safety concerns.

Access will resume this week when any gaps in the work occur.

APEC 2 is approximately 50 metres from APEC 1, a well located at the scene of August’s explosion.

No gas release has taken place since November 21 and given the interval between events, officials are expecting a release soon.

The test separator and venting system remain in place connected to APEC 1 which improves the overall safety of the site.

According to a report at Chatham-Kent council on Monday night, there are still 29 outstanding resident visits to temporarily access their homes. For eight of those 29, homeowners did not consent to the visit requirements. The other 21 have been scheduled and will be accessed soon.

The Wheatley Residents Assistance Program report showed that about $795,000 has been gone out to Wheatley residents from provincial and municipal funding. Eleven of the 68 affected families have not yet applied for any funding. Those figures do not include the monies raised by the Active Citizens of Wheatley fundraising efforts.