Natural Gas poisining in the Forests.

[fastfredracing]

Yesterday, I turned 42. Took the family up to the Allegheny National Forest for a nice weekend of camping/hiking, and just to get away. We used to spend quite a bit of time in the area, but have not been there since the little one was born ( 6 years ). There had always been some natural gas wells in the area, and I am sure a lot of the little access roads in the forest are for the gas companies maintenance crews.
Upon arriving to an area where we frequently camped, we were surprised to see much much more nat. gas activity, wells, pipelines, new roads, and gas company workers everywhere. Many of the areas were cleared, and were littered with pumps/pipelines/ holding tanks etc.
We drove a few miles back in to one of our favorite areas, and found a great spot that we had stayed at before. Took about an hour to unpack the Jeep, set up our new tent, get a fire going, and have some lunch.
At this time, I started to feel real sleepy ( rare for me, I never nap during the day) , but it became overwhelming , and I laid down , and took a nap. 30 minutes later, my son is bugging me to take a hike, and he won't let up , so I try to wake up, and I find that I am weak/dizzy, and starting to get a pounding headache. I finally got up, grabbed the BB gun, and took off with the kid. As I hiked away from our site, I started to feel better, and was thinking that that little power nap did me good. We took a nice little hike, he fell in the water , got good and muddy, and we shot some BB's. We came back a different way, down the road, and as I got within 50 or so yards of our camp, I could smell the strong odor of Nat. Gas. There was a large holding tank of some sorts, and it was clearly venting out of it's cap. I am not sure it is supposed to do this or not, but the gas was coming out fast. I could smell it 50 yards away, and you could clearly see the vapor trail of the gas escaping out of the vent, and you could hear the sound of the gas moving through the pipes, and hissing out the top. This tank was approx 50- 75 yards from our camp site, but we did not see it until we hiked out . It was down over a hillside from us.
Upon arriving back at the camp, I found Traci asleep in the tent. I woke her up, and she stated that she did not feel so well, she also had a headache, and was queasy, and weak. We hung around for the rest of the afternoon, but we both felt weak, and sickly, and both of our headaches were increasing in severity.
We made some dinner, and ate, but both of us were so weak , that we took another nap after dinner. I tried to get up after my little nap, and again was feeling very weak, and the severity of my headache was becoming unbearable.
We were both feeling pretty bad, and decided to just pack up a and go home ( a 4 hour jaunt) . As we were packing up and trying to figure out what was making us sick ( we never smelled any hint of gas in our camping area) . I told her of the gas tank I had come across when out on our hike, and on our way out, I drove her to the site, and the smell of gas was very strong as we came up on it in our Jeep, and you could distinctly hear the hiss of the gas escaping over the noise of the jeep running. She became even more nauseous in the presence of this smell, and almost vomited. So we leave the forest, and within 30 minutes of leaving the area, we both are starting to feel better. Within an hour of driving with the windows open ( beautiful drive through the mountains with the super moon up in the sky) we again felt better, and normal again.
Just could not believe that we were suffering symptoms of gas poisoning , but it was the only thing that made any sense. Got home , looked up the symptoms , and sure enough. Headaches, nausea, dizzyness, weakness etc. I guess it was good we came home, who knows, we may have not woken up this morning if we stayed the night.
Of all places, went up to the mountains to get some fresh air, and turns out I am safer in the shop.

[MotoSook]

Natural gas (mostly methane) has no odor. An odorant is added to gas that is delivered to your home or business but as it comes out of the ground you won't smell it. There may have been something in the tank that you reacted to. Wonder why it didnt affect your boy. Still you don't want to take chances. Leaving was a good idea whether there was something from the tank or otherwise.

[schwarz633]

I thought natural gas was odorless until they added mercaptan somewhere in the refining/distribution process. It would seem unlikely that it would be added at the point where it's coming out of the ground.

[fastfredracing]

We thought the same thing about them adding the odor, but whatever it was, it was strong as heck near that tank, you could smell it from 50 yards away. It smelled exactly like nat gas in our home. We were also wondering why it did not affect the kid. I kept asking him if he felt o.k, and we kept a careful eye on him the whole way home , he seemed unaffected. Our symptoms were very real.

[red-beard]

There can be hydrogen sulfide (nasty stuff) mixed with natural gas when it comes out of the ground. It does not have the same smell as natural gas, but it has a distinct smell.

[944Larry]

Originally Posted by red-beard

There can be hydrogen sulfide (nasty stuff) mixed with natural gas when it comes out of the ground. It does not have the same smell as natural gas, but it has a distinct smell.

+100
Rotten egg smell. I've had the same symtoms as Fred but had the benefit of knowing what caused it so no worries except for headache being pretty bad.

[azasadny]

I'm glad you guys got out of there!

[Buckterrier]

What a shame but glad you & our family are OK. My family used to have a camp on the Allegheny River north of Ford City, (not sure where Valencia is). My grandfather made it into an awesome cottage.

Pa. is turning into the gas capitol of the US. I went to an account in Pa. near the NY border. All motels are booked well in advance. In fact a motel that isn't even built yet is booked a year in advance because of all the workers coming in. Lots of land owners getting rich.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

More and more wilderness areas are sure to be ruined in current years in order to satisfy our insatiable lust for energy. It's either that or send more money to foreign nations, including many with western-hating, radical Islamist sympathizing governments.

Such is the price for gluttony. Maybe if we worked a bit harder at curbing consumption, we'd be better off, but nobody really wants to seriously consider that. We're too hooked on our lifestyles and present infrastructure model.

[stealthn]

Call the EPA

[island911]

Sooo. . . Natural Gas --decayed bio-mass-- is "poisoning in the Forests" ?

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

More and more wilderness areas are sure to be ruined in current years in order to satisfy our insatiable lust for energy.

Is it our insatiable lust for energy, (yeah that also), or is it more our insatiable need to over populate the planet?

[island911]

Originally Posted by Buckterrier

Is it our insatiable lust for energy, (yeah that also), or is it more our insatiable need to over populate the planet?

Humans - kill them all, for they are not natural!




Seriously, that's some messed up "thinking." And, This planet, zipping around a ball-o-fusion, in a big old galaxy, in a big ol' universe, doesn't really care what you do or think.

Here ya go http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-solar-storms-20120505,0,6214500.story

maybe chew on this... http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-black-hole-20120503,0,6876637.story

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by island911

Sooo. . . Natural Gas --decayed bio-mass-- is "poisoning in the Forests" ?

Go away.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by zeke

go away.

+1 on that.

[island911]

IOW, you two can't think your way out of a wet -decomposing- paper bag. :-/

[Flieger]

The gas is being extracted by humans and is poisoning the humans trying to enjoy the forest. It is not a natural methane seep or something like that.

[island911]

A gas leak is a serious problem. (with potential to explode and kill -- not just annoy)

Whining, with concerns for the forest online is not the right response.

Reporting it to authorities is.

[island911]

...just make sure the stench isn't simply an out-house. (no sheet, I know)

[Shadetree930]

PARF in 3 ...... 2 .... 1 ....