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
Rendell laments lack of Marcellus revenues
http://citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/rendell-laments-lack-of-marcellus-revenues-1.1078531
Rendell laments lack of Marcellus revenues
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: December 17, 2010
HARRISBURG – The failure to enact a state severance tax on natural gas production is dragging down efforts to keep the state budget balanced through the end of the fiscal year, Gov. Ed Rendell said Thursday.
“We will have a budget deficit at the end of this year at $63 million,” Rendell said, referring to the estimated revenue yield if a severance tax had been enacted before the legislative session ended last month.
House Democratic and Senate Republican leaders had set an Oct. 1 target date to pass a severance tax, but the effort bogged down in disagreement over a tax rate, revenue distribution, scope of drilling-related issues to address and the emergence of the severance tax as a key issue in the gubernatorial race.
Rendell highlighted the severance tax issue at a traditional midyear briefing on how revenue projections for the 2010-11 budget passed in July are bearing out. This was his last briefing as governor.
Gov.-elect Tom Corbett opposes a severance tax. Some Republican lamwakers have discussed letting municipalities charge gas companies fees to cover the impact of drilling on roads and services as an alternative to a severance tax.
The lack of a severance tax means that local communities in the drilling boom areas are missing out on revenue to help pay for road repairs and environmental protection, said Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Pittsburgh.
The governor and GOP senators are at fundamental odds over how to distribute severance tax revenue, said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester.
“We believe the primary recipients of any revenue from such a tax should be the local communities being impacted by Marcellus Shale development and environmental projects across the state,” he added. “The governor believes the lion’s share of that revenue should go to state government.”
Arneson said it’s too early to say whether the current fiscal year will end in a deficit or not.
Beyond balancing the current budget, Rendell’s briefing focused on a projected $3 billion to $4 billion deficit facing the 2011-12 budget with the end of federal stimulus money and earlier one-time revenue transfers and other factors.
rswift@timesshamrock.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
Expert: Gas drilling about risks vs. rewards
http://citizensvoice.com/news/expert-gas-drilling-about-risks-vs-rewards-1.1078631
Expert: Gas drilling about risks vs. rewards
By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: December 17, 2010
NANTICOKE – Natural gas drilling comes with risks to the environment and human health, and the issue is to determine whether those risks are worth the potential rewards.
Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, talked about what can go wrong with natural gas drilling and dispelled some myths about the process during a lecture Thursday at Luzerne County Community College.
“No industrial activity, even building a toaster, is risk-free,” he said.
Ingraffea stressed the importance of calculating the level of risk: taking the probability of things going wrong and weighing them against the expenses, costs and benefits.
The Marcellus Shale, which lies beneath much of New York and Pennsylvania, is rich in natural gas. However, it was not considered economically viable until four new technologies were developed, Ingraffea said.
These are directional drilling – going horizontal to access the thin layer of shale – high volumes of hydraulic fracturing fluid, using slick water to control the amount of power needed to pump large volumes of the fluid at high pressure quickly over long distances, and drilling multiple-wells on a single pad to access as much of the gas as possible in a particular area so as to require a minimum of leasing and capital expenditures.
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” involves blasting thousands to millions of gallons of water containing chemicals and sand thousands of feet underground. This re-opens fractures in the shale, where the natural gas collects. Ingraffea pointed out that the gas is not in the rock itself, but in its natural fractures or joints.
Part of the water used in fracking comes back laden with chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive material, heavy metals and salt. This flowback water has to be disposed of, he said.
Although hydraulic fracturing was around since 1947, the four technologies are relatively recent, Ingraffea said. The first hydraulically fractured well in the Marcellus Shale was drilled in Washington County in 2003, he said.
Slick-water, high-volume fracking has a higher risk to the environment and human health for reasons including that it requires much more industrial development over large areas with heavy equipment operating constantly, and it produces much higher volumes of wastewater.
As the number of wells and the volume of wastewater increases, “odds go up that bad things will happen,” Ingraffea said. These range from blowouts to leaking wastewater trucks.
Research hasn’t been done on the cumulative effects of natural gas drilling, he said. In Pennsylvania – New York has a moratorium on drilling – gas companies are only a few years into what could be a 30- or 40-year development.
And the problems with natural gas drilling, such as methane migration and frack fluid migration, are not new: the industry has known about them for 25 years, Ingraffea said. They are being solved – but they’re not solved yet, he said.
There is no way to guarantee the cement casing, which is poured around metal pipes in the well as a layer of protection, will be perfect, Ingraffea said. The casing can corrode or burst, for example.
The natural gas industry does not have complete control over the wells: they are working thousands of feet underground, where they can’t hear or see, and they rely on imperfect computer models, he said.
Ingraffea said he thought the current rate of natural gas well accidents is too large. If, as predicted, there will be 400,000 Marcellus Shale wells drilled over a 50-year period, how many major failures are acceptable? he asked.
“We’re already at one for every 150 wells. That’s 98.5 percent reliability,” Ingraffea said.
“You’ve got to make the call. What’s an acceptable level of risk?” he continued. To do that, you’ve got to see the quantification of the things that can go wrong. We’re just now beginning in Pennsylvania to be able to quantify the number of accidents per well, or the number of accidents per truck trip, or the number of accidents per million gallons of frack fluid. That stuff could have been modeled. You don’t have to wait for your experience to learn these things. They could be predicted.”
Basin commission issues watershed drilling rules while N.Y. officials call for delay
http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2010/12/17/pike_county_courier/news/2.txt
December 16, 2010
Turbulent week in natural gas drilling issue
Basin commission issues watershed drilling rules while N.Y. officials call for delay
West Trenton, N.J. For better or worse, rhetoric turned to action this past week as the Delaware River Basin Commision (DRBC) issued rules for the controversial horizontal drilling process for natural gas.
According to DRBC, the ruling “applies to all natural gas development projects involving siting, construction, or use of production, exploratory, or other wells in the basin regardless of the target geologic formation, and to water withdrawals, well pad and related activities, and wastewater disposal activities comprising part of, associated with, or serving such projects.”
Early responses were predictably mixed as proponents in New York and Pennsylvania saw the rules as a break in a logjam that would allow development of leases and new economic activity.
Opponents point to widespread instances of ground water pollution from chemicals pumped into drilling holes to “frack” or break up and separate gas in the Marcellus shale formation. They noted that the rules will allow companies with large areas of contiguous leased properties to drill throughout their holdings with a single permit.
Reviewers continue to evaluating the new rules but N.Y. opponents say despite their content, they should not have been issued prior to the completion of environmental studies.
The DRBC rules were issued Dec. 9, days after passage of a three-month moratorium on all gas drilling by N.Y. State Legislature and a letter to the commission from N.Y. Governor David Paterson asking for a delay in the rulemaking until state and city studies were completed.
In asking for delay and consultation, Paterson wrote on Dec. 6 that, “DRBC appears intent on going forward with a regulatory program that would not have the advantage of the full investigations and public deliberations taking place in New York.”
New York State earlier decided that separate environmental reviews would be necessary for any natural gas projects that might be proposed within the unfiltered New York City drinking water watershed surrounding its upstate reservoirs and the DRBC rules have ceded lead decision making to the various state governments.
Still, N.Y. City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote on Nov. 17, also asking for delay during ongoing studies, “Because full-scale development of natural gas exploitation in the watershed could degrade water quality, a rush to regulate and drill risks the long-term viability of one of the most important drinking water sources in the United States”.
The mayor said the “stakes are high” and that billions have been invested in clean water in the Delaware River watershed, which provides drinking water for some 15 million people.
Paterson on Dec. 11 vetoed the state moratorium bill and issued an executive order which would prohibit horizontal fracking gas exploration until July 1, while allowing continuing operation of conventional vertical gas drilling.
The full text of the 83-page document is online at http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/notice_naturalgas-draftregs.htm .
There will be a 90-day comment period, with written comments, via surface mail and e-mail through the DRBC Web site, accepted through the close of business (5 p.m.) March 16. Other forms of comment will not be accepted.
Residents of Dimock Township receive $4.1 million
Dimock, Pennsylvania Residents to Share $4.1 Million, Receive Gas Mitigation Systems Under DEP-Negotiated Settlement with Cabot Oil and Gas
Additional $500,000 to Reimburse DEP for Investigative Costs; DEP to Drop Montrose Water Line Plan Given Uncertain Prospects
HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Residents of Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, who have had their drinking water supplies contaminated by natural gas will each receive a share of $4.1 million that Cabot Oil and Gas Co. will pay under a settlement negotiated by the Department of Environmental Protection and the company.
The settlement, which will enable the affected families to address their individual circumstances as they see fit, also binds Cabot to offer and pay to install whole-house gas mitigation devices in each of the 19 affected homes.
Cabot also will pay DEP $500,000 to offset the state’s expense of investigating the stray gas migration cases that have plagued Dimock residents for nearly two years.
“The 19 families in Dimock who have been living under very difficult conditions for far too long will receive a financial settlement that will allow them to address their own circumstances in their own way,” said DEP Secretary John Hanger, who explained that the amount paid to each family will equal two-times the value of their home, with a minimum payment of $50,000.
“In addition to the significant monetary component of this settlement, there is a requirement that Cabot continue to work with us to ensure that none of their wells allow gas to migrate,” Hanger noted.
DEP began investigating reports of stray gas in Dimock water wells in January 2009. A consent order and agreement signed in November 2009 required Cabot to install whole-house treatment systems in 14 homes, but residents found that action to be unsatisfactory.
The agreement was modified in April 2010 and DEP ordered Cabot to cap three wells believed to be the source of the migrating gas. DEP also suspended its review of Cabot’s pending permit applications for new drilling activities statewide and prohibited the company from drilling any new wells in a nine-square-mile area around Dimock.
In September, DEP announced that Pennsylvania American Water Co. would construct a 5.5-mile water main from its Lake Montrose water treatment plant to supply the affected Dimock residents with a reliable source of quality drinking water. In November, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, or PENNVEST, approved an $11.8 million grant and loan package for the project, with the commonwealth intending to recover the cost of the project from Cabot.
Given the opposition to the planned water line and the uncertain future the project faces, Hanger said the department would abandon its pursuit of the project.
“Our primary goal at the department has always been to ensure that the wells Cabot drilled in Dimock were safe and that they were not contaminating local private water supplies,” said Hanger. “We’ve made great progress in doing that. Since we initiated our enforcement actions, gas levels in a majority of the contaminated water wells have gone down significantly. This agreement lays the foundation for families to finally put an end to this ordeal.”
Media contact: Michael Smith, 717-787-1323
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dimock-pennsylvania-residents-to-share-41-million-receive-gas-mitigation-systems-under-dep-negotiated-settlement-with-cabot-oil-and-gas-111961099.html
Sensors to Assess Water Quality
http://www.azosensors.com/Details.asp?newsID=1726
Sensors to Assess Water Quality
In order to determine the condition of drinking water due to horizontal gas drilling, 
a pre-drilling water examination will be carried out for identifying the variation in water quality before and after the drilling process, with respect to the statements of the residents of Pennsylvania.
Various sensors will be employed for executing these tests. Ten of the sensors will be integrated along the branches of the Southern Tier Susquehanna River, for monitoring the quality of the water.
According to Kimberly Dille, of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, the sensors will be monitoring the conductivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and the turbidity conditions of the water. He remarked that, the quality will be assessed every five minutes and upon the progression of horizontal gas drilling in New York, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission will be measuring the status of water irrespective of time, to avoid the contamination of water.
Andrew Gavin, of SRBC, commented that, when sensing any change in the normal water quality, a warning will be given to their office, providing rapid alertness to the officials about the condition. The SRBC has been collaborating with the Tioga County Planning Department for detecting areas to install these sensing devices on the Apalachin and Catatonk Creeks. According to Elaine Jardine, Director of Tioga, Planning and detecting the quality of water prior to the drilling process, while drilling and after the drilling process is highly significant for knowing the safety of the drinking water.
The SRBC will be integrating ten sensors in New York and has already installed thirty in Pennsylvania. After the establishment of a monitoring station, anyone can assess the status of water through SRBC.net.
Fracking expert to speak at LCCC
http://citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/fracking-expert-to-speak-at-lccc-1.1076898
Fracking expert to speak at LCCC
Published: December 14, 2010
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition is sponsoring a presentation by Cornell University professor Dr. A. R. Ingraffea, “Unconventional Gas Plays: Information for an Informed Citizenry,” at 7 p.m. Thursday in Room 132 of Luzerne County Community College’s Educational Conference Center.
Ingraffea, an expert on hydraulic fracturing, is the Dwight C. Baum professor of Engineering and Weiss Presidential fellow at Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Ingraffea has won numerous awards, done research and development for organizations including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Gas Research Institute, the U.S. Department of Transportation and several private companies, and is on the candidate list for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board for the Review of Hydraulic Fracturing Study.
For more information, call 570-266-5116, visit www.gdacoalition.org or e-mail gdacoaltion@gmail.com.
A primer on Marcellus Shale geology and technology offered in webinar
http://live.psu.edu/story/50263#nw69
Monday, December 6, 2010
A primer on Marcellus Shale geology and technology offered in webinar
University Park, Pa. — By now, many are aware of the huge volume of natural gas held in the deeply buried Marcellus Shale formation and its enormous economic potential for Pennsylvania and neighboring states.
For those who want to learn more about the Marcellus “play,” Penn State Cooperative Extension is offering a free, Web-based seminar at 1 p.m. on Dec. 16, titled, “Plumbing the Depths in Pa.: A Primer on Marcellus Shale Geology and Technology.”
During the one-hour webinar, Michael Arthur, professor of geosciences, will focus on the geology of the Marcellus Shale and technology for extraction as they influence exploration and development of the natural-gas resource. Co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, Arthur will answer questions from online participants during the session.
“The middle Devonian Marcellus Formation in the Appalachian Basin of Pennsylvania and New York is estimated to contain in excess of 486 trillion cubic feet of extractable natural gas,” he said. “That is sufficient for more than 20 years supply at the United States’ current rate of consumption.”
Arthur pointed out that there also is the possibility of additional significant shale gas deposits that may be targeted within the same basin — Devonian black shale units above the Marcellus Shale and the Ordovician Utica Shale below.
“In my presentation, I will discuss the geologic characteristics of the Marcellus Shale formation, the estimated volume of gas deposits at various points, and the process and effect of hydraulic fracturing,” Arthur said. “I also will address the continuing concern that drilling operations could allow gas migration into shallow, fresh-water aquifers, which is now being studied intensively.”
The webinar, “Plumbing the Depths in Pa.: A Primer on Marcellus Shale Geology and Technology,” is part of an ongoing series of workshops and events addressing issues related to the state’s Marcellus Shale gas boom. Information about how to register for the webinar is available on the webinar page of Penn State Cooperative Extension’s “Natural Gas” website. .
Additional one-hour webinars will be held at 1 p.m. on the following dates:
— Jan. 20, 2011: “Marcellus Shale Legislation: What Was Accomplished in the 2009-10 Session and What Issues Remain to be Addressed.”
— Feb. 16, 2011: “Dealing with Gas Tax Issues: What You Need to Know.”
— March 17, 2011: “Natural Gas Well Development and Emergency Response and Management.”
Previous webinars, publications and other information on topics such as water use and quality, zoning, gas-leasing considerations for landowners and implications for local communities also are available on the “Natural Gas” website at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas.
For more information, contact John Turack, extension educator in Westmoreland County, at 724-837-1402 or by e-mail at jdt15@psu.edu.