national
Battalipn/Page 9
January 19, 1982
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What’s Up at Texas A&M
Tuesday
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■i-LORS oi
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MSC BASEMENT: Meeting in “Rumours” at 7 p.m. to discuss
upcoming shows.
TAMU STUDENT DIETETIC ASSOCIATION: Han
ning and Business meeting at 6:30 p.m. in 126 Kleberg.
CHI ALPHA: Meeting in the AH Faiths Chapel at 7 p.m. for
prayer, planning and Bible teaching.
TAMU ASSOCIAION OF MARTIAL ARTS: Demonstra
tions on Jan. 18, 19, 20 and 21 at 267 East Kyle at 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday
NATIONAL AGRI-MARKET ING ASSOCIATION:
Meeting to discuss seminar and trip to Denver at 8:00 p.m. in
Kleberg Lounge.
SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS: Meeting to work on
conference at 7:30 p.m. in 103 Zachry.
TAMU POLO CLUB: Mandatory meeting at 8:00 p.m. in the
Animal Industries Building.
OCA: Meeting at 6:30 p.m. for the Apartment President*Offic
ers, and Comm. Chairmen in the OCA Cubicle.
MSC OPERA AND PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY:
Simon Sai gon's Riggoletto Operalogue at 7:30 p.m. in the Thea
ter. Admission: $1.00.
I1ILLELCLUB: Welcome back - wine and cheese party at 7:30
p.m. in the Jewish Student Center.
Thursday
SURF CLUB: Surfing Movie “W'e Got Surl” by Hal Jepsen will
be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the Heldenfels Bldg. Filmed in Calif.,
Hawaii, Bali-Bata, and some new footage.
CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: Everyone welcome in
105 Harrington Classroom Complex.
MSC CEPHEID VARIABLE: Movie “Dragon Slayer” at 7:30
and 9:45 p.m. in Rudder Theater.
Worse weather predicted in March
United Press International
“Astrometeorologist” Joseph
Goodavage, who predicted in
1978 that this winter would be
one of the coldest and deadliest
on record, says the worst is yet to
come — in March.
Goodavage, whose weather
forecasts are based on the activ
ity of the sun and planets, said in
a 1978 interview with the Detroit
Free Press that the winter of
1981-82 would be one of the
worst on record and produce
more than 200 weather-related
deaths in the United States. The
death toll has already far ex
ceeded 200. ,
*
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In a followup interview pub
lished Sunday, Goodavage, who
is also a science writer and the
author of “Our Threatened
Planet,” had more bad news,
saying even worse weather is on
the way.
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United Press International
ALLISON — In the remote
exas Panhandle, a huge crater
filled with choppy, cold water
surrounds a well spewing a hazy
cloud of natural gas into the sky,
as more than two dozen ear-
thmovers attempt to dig 150 feet
into the ground to stop its flow.
The well, which blew out
Nov. 3 approximately 8 miles
southeast of Allison, has been
releasing more than 20 million
cubic feet of gas per day over the
sparsely populated countryside.
Some involved in the process
have estimated the expense of
the massive digging and capping
effort at approximately a half-
million dollars a day. A spokes
man for Apache Corp., which is
responsible for the well, de
clined to estimate the cost but
said the expense was covered by
a well control insurance policy.
Officials in Apache Corp.’s
Minneapolis, Minn., office say
the well, which initially blew out
Oct. 4 but was recovered a
month later, began releasing “an
uncontrolled flow of gas from
the wellhead.”
Workers and area residents
tell a different story.
“The pumper was driving off
after checking the well and find
ing it had 11,000 pounds of
pressure,” said Orville Carter,
who has a construction firm at
nearby Canadian.
“He heard an explosion and
turned around to see the Christ
mas tree and the pipe shooting
hundreds of feet into the air.”
The pipe and Christmas tree
— pipes and valves fitted onto
the wellhead to control gas flow
and prevent a blowout — fell
back into a virtual crater the ex
plosion cut into the earth.
Now heavy equipment oper
ators are digging day and night
in efforts to relocate the top of
the pipe releasing gas from the
well.
A Woodward, Okla., well ser
vicing firm, Cudd Pressure Con
trol, is in charge of the danger
ous operation to literally dig out
the well hole. Although workers
say chances of the well igniting
are remote, highly flammable
gas hangs over the work area.
Bob Cudd, who supervises
the operation for Apache, de
clined to comment on the well
blowout except to say: “Apache
is doing everything humanly
possible to get this well under
control.”
Although 150 feet is an esti
mate, no one knows how far
heavy equipment operators will
have to dig before the pipe is
unearthed enough for Cudd’s
crews to cap the bellowing well.
The Christmas tree and addi
tional pipe were found at about
80 feet beneath the earth’s sur
face. So far workers have dug
more than 100 feet.
The well sits about 500 feet
from a county road, where pas-
sersby pause to take photo
graphs and watch the massive
digging operation.
After two months of digging,
workers have created a huge
hole resembling a dry lake bed.
The well crater, filled with water
oozing in from beneath the
ground, is bound by a 10-foot-
high, man-made dirt fence vyith-
in the huge hole.
Apache spokeswoman Betty
Watson in Minneapolis said the
company hopes the well can be
put back into operation, but
another well is being drilled
near the blowout site to be used
as a relief well if needed.
Parker Drilling Co. of Tulsa
is drilling the relief well, which
workers say will be used to offset
the immense pressure forcing
gas from the blown well.
Parker spokeswoman Susan
Dornblaser said Parker had the
drilling operation listed as “a
confidential project” for Apache
and could not release informa
tion on its activities. Apache, a
well operating company, does
not have a drilling operation.
Each load of dirt from the
hole is dumped atop a huge
mound growing daily near the
crater. Semi-tractor trailers haul
thousands of gallons of water
daily pumped from the smaller
crater where the gas spews into
the air. Bulldozer laborously
pull the multi-ton trucks up the
steep embankment for
dumping.
The feverish digging, the un
ending water pumping and
hauling process, and hardhatted
workers’ plans to go into the
hole and cap the high pressure
well are all part of a “unique
operation” for which no time
limit can be set, one man at the
site said.
“They can’t get to the casing
so they just have to dig down
until they find it,” he said. “This
is dangerous. This has never
been done before.”
And, he said, the dangers are
part of the job.
“This is a different breed of
person out here in the oil field,”
he said. “They do things that are
dangerous to the rest of us and
they don’t see it that way.”
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lyiiiiiiTiiiiiiiniiiiiii
H
M
MSC OPAS proudly presents
Texas Opera Theater
“Rigoletto”
January 28/8 p.m.
Rudder Auditorium/TAMU
Tickets available at MSC Box Office or
Telephone MasterCard / VISA orders & pick up at the door
845-1234
*6
Mi
XIIIIIIIIIIIXTIITIIIIII
THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
WELCOMES YOU
SUNDAY SERVICES
7:30 A.M., 8:30 A.M., 9:00 A.M., 11:00 A.M.
CANTERBURY
Meets in Episcopal Student Center
WEDNESDAYS 5:30 P.M.
FRIDAYS 6:30 A.M.
ST. THOMAS
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
906 Jersey St., 696-1726
% (South edge of Campus) ^
Day students get their news from the Batt.
is now accepting
applications for
MEMBERSHIP
Applications may be picked up in
Room #216 MSC in the Hospitality
cubicle.
Interviews will be held Jan. 25-29 from
5:30-9:50 p.m.
Applications are Limited
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