Accidents

The news out of Dimock, PA is coming so fast and furious, it’s hard to keep track of it all. First, a brief background on the situation in Dimock, the context you almost never read in the mainstream media:

In 2008, Cabot Oil & Gas drilled a number of Marcellus Shale gas wells in Dimock Township in Pennsylvania, a rural area in the northeastern part of the state, in Susquehanna County. Homeowners located along the Carter Road area noticed high levels of methane in their drinking water. After an investigation by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the DEP fined Cabot in 2009 stating that Cabot’s operations in the area caused methane to migrate into a local water aquifer serving anywhere from 13 to 19 houses, depending on the changing storyline.

Read More “EPA Promises Water for Dimock PA, Reneges 24 Hours Later”

Three private water wells in Lenox Township (Susquehanna County), PA have been contaminated with methane from nearby Marcellus Shale drilling done by Cabot Oil & Gas according to the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Cabot has installed methane detection alarms in the three homes and has vented the affected wells.

Read More “New Cases of Methane Water Well Contamination by Cabot in PA”

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is once again stirring up trouble in Dimock, PA by “reopening” a review of Dimock Township water supplies after recent tests from a private testing service hired by Cabot Oil & Gas turned up “gaps” in the data that the EPA wants to explore. This is less than a month after the EPA sent a letter to residents, on Dec. 2, telling them the same test results showed well water in the area “does not present an immediate health threat to users” (see this MDN story for a copy of the letter).

Read More “EPA Says Gaps Exist in Dimock, PA Water Tests”

Dimock, PA has been a rallying cry for many who oppose shale gas drilling. For those with only a peripheral knowledge of the struggle, the word Dimock conjures up an image of nasty hydraulic fracturing fluids seeping into ground water supplies and contaminating them so they are now undrinkable by humans or animals. But such an image would be wrong.

What happened in Dimock, according to the PA State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), is that the drilling company Cabot Oil & Gas did not properly case (enclose the bore hole), which led to methane (natural gas) escaping through cracks into the local water supply for area homes. Methane gas in water does not kill when consumed, but it can become an explosion hazard as happened with one local water well in the area.

Read More “Final Resolution to Dimock, PA Water Problem?”