Danger above and below: Man dies on the job at gas well site
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Kerry E. Duncan Jr.
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Where Kerry E. Duncan Jr. came from, they have a saying about the choices facing those graduating high school: You can go underground or out of state.
Mr. Duncan chose the latter, joining other natives of West Virginia on a gas drilling crew working southwestern Pennsylvania's booming gas fields. He made the choice, his family said, in part because he didn't want to face the dangers of the coal mines.
But he died on a Greene County well site in the wee hours of July 22, in an incident that is now under investigation and that, in his family's eyes, raises questions about safety procedures in the industry that is bringing a new wave of migrants to the region.
The state police report said that Mr. Duncan, 20, "was in the process of refueling a generator and was electrocuted while attempting to turn off a fuel pump" at the site operated by his employer, Target Drilling of Smithton. Greene County Coroner Gregory P. Rohanna's initial finding was that he was "possibly electrocuted from a fuel pump at the site," but he has not ruled out other possible causes of death, and is awaiting test results. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration is reviewing whether it has jurisdiction.
Those reviews could take months, and the agonized family is asking questions about the level of staffing on the site, and the appropriateness of the equipment, like gloves, that the company provided.
"I lost my son. I need some answers," said Kerry E. Duncan Sr., the deceased's father, as he and a half dozen relatives shared memories of "Little Kerry" in his driveway in Amma, W.Va., on the day after the death. "It might help some." The Duncan family also includes Little Kerry's sister, Savannah.
"Maybe we could save somebody else."
In Roane County, three hours south of Pittsburgh on Interstate 79, the hollows seem to birth clouds. The roads between the towns are smooth blacktop, but those amid the farmhouses and double-wide trailer sites are gravel or crumbling asphalt. At the Duncan family home in the town of Amma, the deep green hillside casts shadows over a new house -- replacing one that exploded in November due to a possible propane leak -- with its long back porch built in hopes of hosting grandchildren.
First Published July 31, 2011 12:00 am
