Blowouts Onshore: Fear, Pollution, Uncertainty

LINE CREEK VALLEY, Wyo. (AP) — A gas well blowout in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park spewed a cloud of explosive natural gas, forced evacuations for miles around and polluted the drinking water — and the people who live in Wyoming's Line Creek Valley still wonder four years later if their lives will return to normal.

Days of panic after the Aug. 11, 2006, blowout at the well have been replaced by lingering uncertainty about a pollution plume 225 feet underground.

Now Windsor Energy is applying to drill a new well even though the blowout's cause, to this day, remains a mystery.

Last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster focused international attention on offshore blowouts. But they happen more often onshore, with dangerous effect: release of toxic gases, spills of oil and plumes of groundwater pollution.