Texas Driller to Pay $4.1M Over Tainted Dimock Water
Washington PA Observer
Reporter
16 December 2010
Associated Press
HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
has abandoned its plan to force a Houston-based drilling company to pay
nearly $12 million to extend a public water line to residents whose
wells have been contaminated with methane gas, citing a lack of
political support.
Environmental regulators say Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. instead will pay
residents of Dimock a total of $4.1 million under a settlement with the
company announced late Wednesday. Cabot also has agreed to pay to
install whole-house gas mitigation systems in each of the 19 affected
homes and to pay DEP $500,000.
The settlement infuriated some residents, who say DEP caved to
political pressure.
"Pretty nice that Cabot can do whatever they want," said Craig Sautner,
a Dimock resident who is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against
Cabot. "When Cabot pays all the bills, that's what happens. It's
ridiculous. Now we're stuck here."
Environmental Secretary John Hanger had announced the water line plan
in late September before cheering residents in Dimock, a small town in
Susquehanna County where tainted wells have raised concerns nationwide
about the environmental and health consequences of gas drilling.
Blaming the contamination of the residents' aquifer on faulty Marcellus
Shale gas wells drilled by Cabot, Hanger declared that DEP would sue
the company unless it agreed to pay $11.8 million to extend municipal
water service from Montrose, about six miles away, to the Dimock
residents. A state financing authority voted last month to front the
money for the project through a combination of grants and loans.
But the water line provoked significant opposition among local elected
officials, who called it a boondoggle and threatened to sue to block
it. Cabot also balked, calling it "wasteful and environmentally
disruptive" and blasting Hanger and his agency for abuse of authority.
Hanger told the Associated Press late Wednesday that he dropped the
water line plan because of the significant opposition it faced. Hanger,
part of the administration of outgoing Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell,
leaves office in January. He said incoming Republican Gov. Tom Corbett
could have easily halted the project.
"I personally think the line would have done a lot of good for the
community, but a lot of people disagreed with me.
That's absolutely something we took into account when arriving at this
settlement," Hanger said. "This line was not going to get built."
Hanger said each family will receive an amount equal to twice the value
of its home, with a minimum payment of $50,000.
Cabot said in a statement that the settlement will permit the company
to resume drilling in Dimock and that it plans to do so in the second
quarter of 2011.
"This agreement provides a reasonable and pragmatic way forward for all
parties," said Dan Dinges, Cabot's chief executive officer.
DEP began investigating reports of stray gas in Dimock water wells in
January 2009, when the presence of methane led to the explosion of one
resident's well. DEP said it has traced the gas to Cabot's drilling
operations. Cabot denies responsibility for the pollution.