Wyoming School on Track to Reopen After Oilfield Gas Leaks

MIDWEST, Wyo. (AP) — A rural school in central Wyoming is on track to reopen this fall after being closed due to leaking gas from a nearby oil field.

Tests in May showed air quality inside the Midwest School was acceptably clean after work to address the problem.

A burst water pipe last winter complicated plans to reopen the school but all work is finished ahead of schedule.

The K-12 school has been closed for more than a year following unsafe levels of benzene and carbon dioxide. Dozens of students and teachers surveyed reported headaches, coughing and sore throats likely due to breathing the gases.

The school's 150 students and their teachers spent the past school year at schools in Casper about 40 miles away.