I often joke about digging a hole in the ground in Texas and hitting oil. Turns out it's TRUE!*
In Sugarland, Texas (near Houston) two Bubbas are in police custody after the duo drilled an unauthorized well in the back yard of one of the men looking for natural gas. They were in search of a fuel source for their extraordinarily large barbecue grill. It seems they grew tired of changing the propane bottle on their 250,000 BTU grill. (250K BTU? Damn! What were they cooking?)
They were charged with unlawful oil and gas exploration, damage to public property, concealing proven reserves, and numerous other charges by the EPA. Not surprisingly, they were too inebriated at the time of their arrest to understand the charges against them.
They were both employed in the oil and gas industry and knew something about drilling. They bought their supplies (lumber, plywood) from Home Depot and rented a cement mixer to serve as their drill drive system.
After drilling down "a good ways" their PVC drill pipe (OMG....PVC?) blew out and oil began flowing out of the ground, flooding their yard, the street, and the gutter. The EPA later gauged the flow as being at a rate of 47 barrels per hour (that's 1,974 gallons per hour).
Their court date is scheduled for July 1.
I remember years ago there was an oil drilling company TV commercial that aired in West Texas that ended with, "If you don't have an oil well, GET ONE!" I guess these guys took it literally. :)
Have a great weekend everyone.
S
* I checked this on Snopes and they have no evidence of it being a hoax. Still, I would think an oddball story like this would have made the national news. Who knows?
LATE EDIT: I found it! This was actually from a ruptured pipeline in Oklahoma last year. I'm just gonna change the topic from "news" to "humor" and leave it up, 'cause I like it. :)
