An oil well blowout shut down a section of Highway 570 in Amite County today, and three homes were evacuated as a precaution, an emergency official said.
Initial reports indicated no injuries and no imminent danger to residents.
Mississippi Department of Transportation officials said this morning that the highway was closed for a five-mile stretch west of McComb to just east of Highway 569 and was expected to reopen by noon.
The cause of the blowout at the Denbury Resources-owned well was not immediately known, but carbon dioxide escaped the well in an “uncontrolled release,” said Sam Walsh, Amite County emergency management director.
No fire was involved in the blowout, officials said.
Carbon dioxide is frequently used to loosen oil deposits from previous drilling and force them to the surface.
An environmental cleanup crew joined company officials and emergency responders on site, Walsh said.
The incident is the second in southwest Mississippi in seven months for Denbury Resources, which investigated a chemical leak that led to the evacuation of seven homes in Lincoln County in June.
A trio of McComb residents went before the Pike County Board of Supervisors last year to ask that Denbury Resources halt operations until the risks of carbon dioxide injection could be studied further.
The pressurized gas has been used to revive oil fields in southwest Mississippi since 1984, and company officials have said the method has not led to any incidents reported to the state Oil and Gas Board.
In recent years, Denbury Resources has used dynamite blasts to generate underground maps from seismic waves to help guide the process.
Denbury Resources officials were not immediately available for comment today, but a local representative said a press release is expected by the afternoon.
