Dimock, Pennsylvania Residents Will Stop Receiving Water From Fracking Company
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/dimock-pennsylvania-replacement-water_n_1019743.html
MICHAEL RUBINKAM 10/19/11
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane.
Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has been delivering water to homes in the northeast village of Dimock since January of 2009. The Houston-based energy company asked the Department of Environmental Protection for approval to stop the water deliveries by the end of November, saying Dimock’s water is safe to drink.
DEP granted Cabot’s request late Tuesday, notifying the company in a letter released Wednesday morning. Scott Perry, the agency’s acting deputy secretary for oil and gas management, wrote that since Cabot has satisfied the terms of a December settlement agreement requiring the company to remove methane from the residents’ water, DEP “therefore grants Cabot’s request to discontinue providing temporary potable water.”
Residents who are suing Cabot in federal court say their water is still tainted with unsafe levels of methane and possibly other contaminants from the drilling process. They say DEP had no right to allow Cabot to stop paying for replacement water.
Bill Ely, 60, said the water coming out of his well looks like milk.
“You put your hand down a couple of inches and you can’t see your hand, that’s how much gas there is in it. And they’re telling me it was that way all my life,” said Ely, who has lived in the family homestead for nearly 50 years and said his well water was crystal clear until Cabot’s arrival three years ago.
If Cabot stops refilling his 550-gallon plastic “water buffalo” that supplies water for bathing and washing clothes, Ely said it will cost him $250 per week to maintain it and another $20,000 to $30,000 to install a permanent system to pipe water from an untainted spring on his land.
Ely and another resident, Victoria Switzer, said their attorneys had promised to seek an injunction in the event that DEP gave Cabot permission to halt deliveries. The attorneys did not immediately return an email and phone call seeking comment.
Regulators previously found that Cabot drilled faulty gas wells that allowed methane to escape into Dimock’s aquifer. The company denied responsibility, but has been banned from drilling in a 9-square-mile area of Dimock since April of 2010.
Along with its request to stop paying for deliveries of water, Cabot has asked the department for permission to resume drilling in Dimock, a rural community about 20 miles south of the New York state line where 18 residential water wells were found to be polluted with methane. DEP has yet to rule on that request.
Philip Stalnaker, a Cabot vice president, asserted in a Monday letter to DEP that tests show the residents’ water to be safe to drink and use for cooking, bathing, washing dishes and doing laundry. He said any methane that remains in the water is naturally occurring but that Cabot is willing to install mitigation systems at residents’ request.
Months’ worth of sampling data provided by DEP to The Times-Tribune of Scranton show that methane has spiked repeatedly this year in the water wells of several homes, reaching potentially explosive levels in five, the newspaper reported Wednesday.
Cabot cited data from 2,000 water samples taken before the commencement of drilling in Susquehanna County that show that 80 percent of them already had methane.
“The amount of methane in a water supply is neither fixed nor predictable,” and depends on a variety of factors unrelated to drilling, Cabot spokesman George Stark said in an email Wednesday.
Methane is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas commonly found in Pennsylvania groundwater. Sources include swamps, landfills, coal mines and gas wells. Methane is not known to be harmful to ingest, but at high concentrations it’s flammable and can lead to asphyxiation.
The December 2010 agreement between DEP and Cabot required the company to offer residential treatment systems that remove methane from the residents’ water, and to pay them twice the assessed tax value of their homes. A half-dozen treatment systems have been installed, and Cabot said they are effective at removing the gas.
But residents who filed a federal lawsuit against Cabot are appealing the December settlement. They favor an earlier, scuttled DEP plan that would have forced Cabot to pay nearly $12 million to connect their homes to a municipal water line.
Switzer said it’s inappropriate for the state to allow Cabot to stop the water deliveries while the appeal is pending – and while there still are problems with residents’ water.
“They keep changing the rules to accommodate this gas company. It’s so blatantly corrupt,” she said.
DEP spokeswoman Katherine Gresh said the December settlement gave Cabot the right to halt the deliveries once the company funded escrow accounts for the homeowners and is “independent of the water quality results.”
Cabot plans to inform each homeowner by Nov. 1 that it will discontinue deliveries of bulk and bottled water by Nov. 30. The company also offered to pay for a plumber to reconnect residents’ water wells. Cabot said it will stop delivering replacement water “at its earliest opportunity” to homeowners who refuse to allow testing of their well water.
EPA considers using Dimock, Pa. for case study
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110107/NEWS01/101070383/EPA+considers+using+Dimock++Pa.+for+case+study
EPA considers using Dimock, Pa. for case study
By Jon Campbell •jcampbell1@gannett.com • January 7, 2011, 8:55 pm
When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came to Binghamton last year for two days of hearings on hydraulic fracturing, it was looking for suggestions on where to do a case study.
The response heard over and over? Dimock, Pa., the tiny township in Susquehanna County where state officials say faulty gas drilling operations led to 18 methane-contaminated water wells and a community divided.
Those voices were apparently heard.
EPA officials have been in contact with some Dimock landowners, and an agency spokeswoman confirmed the once-sleepy hamlet that has gained national attention is under consideration to be a part of a $1.9 million study which is expected to last at least two years.
“We received many nominations for case studies,” said Betsaida Alcantara, the EPA spokeswoman. “We are evaluating the nominations, including Dimock, to determine which of them we will undertake as case studies.”
Last year, the EPA launched a study on fracking — a gas-stimulation technique that involves the use of a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals blasted deep underground — and its possible effect on groundwater.
Supporters of the process say it’s safe and crucial for extracting massive amounts of gas from shale formations. Critics say it could wreak havoc on the environment and taint water.
Robert Puls, director of research for the EPA’s Ground Water and Ecosystems Restoration Division, met a month ago with a number of Dimock homeowners whose water wells had been contaminated with high levels of methane, according to Victoria Switzer, a resident who took part in the meeting.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has held Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. responsible for the contamination, but the company has denied responsibility, instead opting to settle with the department to end nearly two years of legal wrangling.
Switzer is one of about a dozen Dimock residents who have sued Cabot for damages, claiming their drilling operations led to their ruined water wells.
“(Puls) met with us and asked us if we would be interested in the possibility of a being a case study,” Switzer said. “It would be great. To me, my goal has always been to protect my home and my land. I now know that the DEP isn’t going to do that, and Cabot certainly isn’t going to do that. I’m hopeful, and maybe I’m naïve, that the EPA can help us if they take us as a case study.”
Cabot spokesman George Stark said the company would be more than willing to cooperate with the EPA.
“Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation will participate in a fact-based hydraulic fracturing study regarding any locality where it currently operates,” Stark said. “It is Cabot’s opinion that too much misinformation exists today regarding hydraulic fracturing. Studies aimed at collecting valid facts and evidence regarding hydraulic fracture technologies, operations and practices are welcome.”
Dimock was the overwhelming choice of speakers at the September hearings at the Forum. Some from environmental groups pointed to the site as an example of the consequences of natural gas drilling, while landowners and industry representatives asked the agency to investigate the site and dispel myths.
If the township is going to be included in the EPA study, it may be contingent on how wide of a scope the agency takes.
A directive from Congress that kick-started the study asked the agency to look at the relationship between hydrofracking and groundwater. Many at the public hearings, however, urged it to take a wider approach, including all of the drilling activities that take place before and after the fracking process.
The DEP concluded the Dimock water well contamination was caused by faulty well casing and drilling operations and not the hydrofracking process, though a spill of a fracking solution made its way to a local stream.
“Should the community of Dimock be chosen as a community to be studied, Cabot notes for the record that the (Pennsylvania DEP) has stated that Dimock does not have a hydraulic fracturing issue,” Stark said.
Switzer said she’s hopeful the EPA will include Dimock, calling the agency her “last hope.”
“We’re waiting. I don’t have any assurances that they’re going to do it, but I’m in prayer mode,” Switzer said. “I’m hopeful that if EPA were involved, that they would gain from the experience. I don’t have anywhere else to go. They’re our last chance.”
Napoli Bern Ripka & Associates, LLP Views Cabot Oil’s Use of DEP Consent Order as Improper
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/napoli-bern-ripka–associates-llp-views-cabot-oils-use-of-dep-consent-order-as-improper-112236604.html
Napoli Bern Ripka & Associates, LLP Views Cabot Oil’s Use of DEP Consent Order as Improper
NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Attorneys of Napoli Bern Ripka & Associates, LLP, representing plaintiffs in Dimock, Pennsylvania who have sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (Fiorentino v. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., USDC-Middle District of PA., Docket No.: 3:09-CV-02284) for contamination of their drinking water announced today that Cabot and its attorneys have attempted to use a consent order entered with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to allegedly mislead their clients into waiving their rights to continue the litigation.
The Dimock plaintiffs have sued Cabot Oil over its use of hydraulic fracturing known as “fracking.” Natural gas drillers use fracking to get gas that is trapped in pores and fissures in the sub-surface rock. The method involves pumping a toxic stew of chemicals and water at very high pressures into the rock to “fracture” it thus allowing the gas to escape up into the well. Fracking causes groundwater contamination from surface releases, leaking well casings and the chemicals working their way up to potable water supplies.
The DEP determined that Cabot had failed to complete its obligations under an earlier consent order by failing, among other things, to “permanently restore and replace water supplies” and also failing to “completely eliminate the unpermitted discharge of natural gas into the waters of the Commonwealth” from its gas wells in the Dimock/Carter Road areas. As a result, the DEP entered a consent order with Cabot on December 15, 2010. The Order requires Cabot to do a number of things, including paying the greater of $50,000 or two times the assessed value of the [affected] property into nineteen escrow funds to “pay for or restore and/or replace the water supplies or to provide for ongoing operating or maintenance expense.” This money was to be paid without any obligation on the part of the property owner, a number of whom have been involved in civil litigation against Cabot in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (December 15, 2010 Consent Order and Settlement Agreement).
Instead of simply notifying the attorneys for these plaintiffs, Cabot’s agent reportedly telephoned a number of the plaintiffs directly on December 17, 2010. Cabot’s attorneys opined in a December 20, 2010 letter to the Napoli office that the agent’s calls were not a violation of Rule 4.2 of the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Code for Attorneys, which precludes directly contacting an adversary, known to be represented by counsel, because the agent is not himself an attorney.
In addition to advising plaintiffs, all of whom are represented by legal counsel, that Cabot was required to test their water supply under the Consent Order, Cabot also reportedly told those plaintiffs that they would be required to sign releases of all of their claims against Cabot in the litigation to obtain the payment already due them under the Consent Order. Nothing in the Consent Order with DEP requires the plaintiffs to sign such releases and signing the release would have foreclosed the plaintiffs’ ability to continue to seek damages in their civil suit. The damages claimed against Cabot are far higher than the amounts Cabot is required to pay by the DEP consent order.
Said plaintiffs’ attorney Marc Jay Bern states, “Cabot’s attorneys claim they are not responsible for their client’s unethical and dishonest conduct in calling my clients and misleading them about the need to sign releases to obtain the money due them under the Consent Order. They knew Cabot (their client) was making these calls and they are just as responsible as Cabot and its General Counsel, himself an attorney who is bound by the Disciplinary Code to avoid contact with litigation adversaries who are represented by counsel.” Bern continued, “Cabot’s conduct violates every precept of fairness and honesty toward these people who neither signed on to the Consent Order nor were involved in negotiating its terms.”
Press Release Contact Information:
Marc Jay Bern
Senior Partner
Napoli Bern Ripka & Associates, LLP
(212) 267-3700
mjbern@napolibern.com
DEP-Cabot settlement gets Rendell’s approval
http://citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/dep-cabot-settlement-gets-rendell-s-approval-1.1078462
DEP-Cabot settlement gets Rendell’s approval
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: December 17, 2010
HARRISBURG – Gov. Ed Rendell gave his personal stamp of approval today to the settlement between the Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. to address water contamination problems in Dimock Township.
“It’s a good settlement because they (Cabot) share the fiscal responsibility of making this right,” Rendell said.
Under the settlement, Cabot agrees to pay $4.1 million to residents affected by methane contamination attributed to faulty Cabot natural gas wells. In exchange, DEP has dropped its plan to build a 12.5-mile waterline from Montrose to Dimock Township to restore water supplies to 19 families affected by methane contamination in their water supplies.
Rendell said the settlement is due to the determination of DEP Secretary John Hanger to reach a solution to the township’s water woes.
State regulators will watch Cabot very carefully as the company resumes hydrofracking operations and drilling for natural gas pockets in the area next year as provided under the settlement, Rendell said.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
Dimock residents see “dirty tricks” in Cabot document
http://citizensvoice.com/news/dimock-residents-see-dirty-tricks-in-cabot-document-1.1079002
Dimock residents see “dirty tricks” in Cabot document
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: December 18, 2010
Legal releases delivered Thursday by the gas company deemed responsible for methane contamination in Dimock Twp. water wells have some township residents accusing the driller of using “dirty, dirty tricks” to try to free itself of a lawsuit pending in federal court.
Early on Thursday morning, attorneys for Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. delivered documents to 19 Dimock families who will split $4.1 million as part of a settlement announced 14 hours earlier between the Texas-based driller and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Each family is entitled to a payment worth twice the value of its home as a remedy for methane in the drinking water that DEP linked to faulty Cabot gas wells. Under the agreement worked out between the company and the state, Cabot must put each family’s share of the money in escrow accounts that the residents can access after 30 days at the earliest.
DEP Secretary John Hanger emphasized when announcing the settlement that it carried “no requirement” for the families to drop the federal lawsuit that 11 of them have filed against Cabot alleging broader harm and damages to their health and property.
But the letter Cabot delivered Thursday offered a different deal: the families were asked to release the company from all legal claims against it in exchange for receiving the money.
Cabot spokesman George Stark said the offer was intended only as a way to speed up the payments.
“It is a way in which they can get their payment now, immediately, and we’ve heard from some that they’d like that to be an option,” he said. “The other option is to wait for the escrows to be fully funded, which would be about 30 days, and then they can draw their dollars down from there.”
“They are under no obligation one way or another to sign or not to sign,” he added.
The families’ attorney, Leslie Lewis, said the Cabot document contained no information that identified it as an optional offer to speed up the payments.
“It really doesn’t say that,” she said.
“It was an effort to acquire a waiver for all present and future claims in exchange for this money. They tried to slip something by.”
The families called the letter from Cabot a ploy meant to appeal to the poorest and most vulnerable among them.
“They’re sneaky,” resident Julie Sautner said.
“There may be people that are desperate but nobody is that desperate. We’re going to wait.”
llegere@timesshamrock.com
DEP, Cabot argue over Dimock water contamination
http://citizensvoice.com/news/dep-cabot-argue-over-dimock-water-contamination-1.1051257
Published: October 20, 2010
DEP, Cabot argue over Dimock water contamination
The state Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. traded barbs Tuesday about the scope, cause and solution for methane contamination in 18 residential water wells in Dimock Township.
The state agency and the natural gas drilling company have been arguing via press releases and advertisements since late last month when DEP announced that Pennsylvania American Water Co. will construct a new, 5.5-mile water main from its Lake Montrose treatment plant to provide water to the affected families, and Cabot would be made to pick up the tab.
Read Hanger’s letter to Cabot Oil & Gas
“DEP was forced to take action since Cabot continues to deny responsibility for the contamination, despite overwhelming evidence of its responsibility,” DEP Secretary John Hanger said in a letter released widely on Tuesday and circulated over the weekend in Susquehanna County.
“Since that announcement was made, Cabot has launched a public relations campaign and much misinformation has been brought forth concerning who will be party to that solution and who will end up paying for it.”
In a press release also sent Tuesday, Cabot spokesman George Stark said that water tests performed by Cabot and DEP showed only four of the 18 water wells have methane at levels exceeding the 28 milligrams per liter limit suggested by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining. He also said the company, which maintains it did not cause the methane contamination, has provided “substantial and persuasive proof that methane gas has been present in water wells in and around the Dimock area for generations.”
Read Cabot’s Dimock well data
Hanger said in an interview Tuesday that Cabot “unfortunately” continues to deny responsibility and the company’s data “must be examined through that prism.”
The state’s environmental oversight agency determined that excessive pressures and faulty casings in 14 of Cabot’s natural gas wells caused methane from a rock layer above the Marcellus Shale to seep into residential water supplies.
The state’s evidence includes video recordings of gas bubbling between the casing in Cabot’s wells and high pressure readings “that could only exist in wells that are leaking,” as well as isotopic analysis – a form of chemical “fingerprinting” – that matched the gas found in five homes to the gas leaking from nearby Cabot wells.
Hanger said DEP testing since April has shown as many as 18 affected supplies. DEP will continue water tests until the Nov. 1 deadline for Cabot to rid the water of gas.
“We, of course, would be delighted, as the families would be, if in fact some of the gas went away,” he said. “We have seen declines at some properties, but not at all. We’ll do some more testing and frankly we’ll make our own judgments based on our own data.”
In the open letter to Susquehanna County residents, Hanger said PENNVEST, a state agency which finances water and sewer projects, will be asked to provide the $11.8 million for the water line project, and then the state will “aggressively seek to recover the cost of the project from Cabot.”
“No one in Dimock or Susquehanna County will pay for it and local taxes will not be increased as the result of it,” he said.
Besides the affected residents, others who live on Route 29 between Montrose and Dimock will have the option to tap into the water line if they choose, Hanger said, adding that the line should boost the value of homes and businesses nearby.
Stark called the project an “unwarranted burden on the taxpayers of Pennsylvania.”
“Given the science and our findings, we question how the secretary could spend the 12 million of taxpayer dollars,” he said in an interview. “He’s going to sue us to get it back. I’m not certain that a court will find in favor of the commonwealth.”
The public feud between Cabot and DEP was joined by a group of Susquehanna County residents and businesses called Enough, Already! last week, when the group bought an ad in the Mulligan’s Shopping Guide criticizing the waterline as a “terrible, big government decision” that is “expensive and unnecessary.”
The group asks residents to sign petitions, hosted at eight area businesses, telling PENNVEST to deny an application by DEP to fund the line.
Many of Cabot’s positions were echoed in the ad, which Cabot and members of Enough, Already! said the company did not place, write or pay for.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072