A man was injured and taken to a local hospital when a pipeline valve broke yesterday at a natural gas plant in Washington County.

"There was released gas from the valve, but everything is isolated and taken care of," said Greg Sullivan, operations manager for the Houston Gas Plant of MarkWest Liberty Gas Gathering LLC in Chartiers.

The injured man, who was not identified, hit his head, Mr. Sullivan said.

"I know he's doing fine," he said. "They just wanted to make sure everything was fine." The cause of the break was not yet known, company counsel Cory Bromley said.

The company gathers natural gas from the wells drilled by others and takes it to one place so it can be processed and delivered for retail sale.