9/30/2010. In a rural Baptist church in Dimock, PA, DEP Secretary John Hanger announces Dimock residents will be supplied water via a water pipeline, and Cabot is to be held accountable.
Related articles:
Pa. DEP targets Texas driller for tainted water
By Michael Rubinkam •The Associated Press • September 30, 2010, 12:45 pm
* DIMOCK, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s top environmental regulator says the state will sue a Houston-based drilling company unless it agrees to pay nearly $12 million to extend a public water line to at least 18 residents whose water wells have been contaminated with methane gas.
John Hanger held a news conference Thursday in the small northeastern Pennsylvania town of Dimock, where tainted water wells are raising concerns about the consequences of gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale.
Hanger blamed the methane contamination on faulty natural gas wells drilled by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. Cabot vigorously denies it is responsible for the pollution. Cabot’s CEO issued a scathing public rebuke of Hanger this week, accusing him of “political pandering.”
Tensions between Cabot and Dimock residents are escalating. A resident was charged with disorderly conduct last week for an incident with a gun. In response, Cabot has hired armed guards to accompany employees onto residential properties. Hanger pleaded for calm Thursday, saying, “Put the guns away.”
Pa. insists Cabot pay for $11.8M water pipeline for Dimock residents
By Jon Campbell •jcampbell1@gannett.com • September 30, 2010, 7:55 pm
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DIMOCK, Pa. — If Pennsylvania has its way, an oil and gas company will pay $11.8 million for a 12.5-mile municipal water pipeline that will service homes whose water wells were ruined by the natural gas drilling process, the state’s top environmental official announced Thursday.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said his office would “go after” Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation in court if the company refuses to pay for the project, which is expected to begin in early November and run between a water treatment plant on Lake Montrose and Dimock.
……..
Hanger took a lengthy round of questions from media representatives and Dimock families, while about a dozen people lifted signs urging the department to consider municipal water supplies for other Pennsylvania communities that have had water-quality issues.
Several voiced their anger with Cabot.
“Shut them down, John!” one person shouted.
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[...] water in Dimock, PA by Cabot Oil and Gas. In October 2010, John Hanger, then head of the DEP, stood in Dimock Baptist Church and told people that a water pipeline would be installed from the neighboring town of Montrose, to bring clean water from Lake Montrose to Dimock. That never [...]