Roughneck killed on SST rig
Sheriff's Department lists electrocution as cause of death
by Annie O’Brien

According to a press release from the Sublette County Sheriff’s Department, a 26-yearold roughneck from Rigby, ID, Christopher Jason Moss, died while at work on SST Energy Rig 56, located in the Pinedale Anticline drilling area.

SST contracts with the company Nielson & Associates, Inc., which operates Rig 56. Rig 56 is a diesel/electric powered rig with a drilling depth capacity of 16,000 feet. Detective K.C. Lehr said county EMS and sheriff’s deputies responded to the rig after the sheriff’s dispatch was notified. Law enforcement arrived slightly before EMS, and Moss was declared dead at the rig site location. "It was not a heart attack," Lehr said, naming electrocution as the cause of Moss' death. Lehr also said a toxicology report was done on the victim, but the results will not be available for several weeks.

Spokespersons for SST were tight-lipped about Moss’ death, refusing to release any information about the incident. They declined comment on what he was doing when he died. Pete Toups, SST’s Operations Manager, said the company planned to conduct its own investigation into Moss’ death, in addition to the Sheriff’s Department and OSHA inquiries. Moss’ death marks the first fatality on the Pinedale Anticline in 2007.