Litigation

Last Thursday and Friday in the trial brought by two Dimock, PA families against Cabot Oil & Gas for supposedly contaminating their water wells with methane, Cabot launched into its defense since the plantiffs had rested their case. One of the first witnesses was Dr. Tarek Saba, a real scientist who actually has practical experience with oil and gas drilling and knows the details of the Dimock wells (unlike the plantiffs’ expert witness, Tony Ingraffea, who was destroyed under cross examination, see Dimock Trial: Ingraffea Day 2 – Hides Behind a Woman’s Coat). Dr. Saba’s testimony further debunked the fluff and BS (Barbara Streisand) coming from Tony Ingraffea. Not only that, but at the end of the day on Friday, Cabot called a local Dimock resident who spoke about lighting her water on fire just like they did in Gasland–decades before there was any natural gas drilling in the area. What a great witness!…
Read More “Dimock Trial: Lighting Tap Water on Fire Decades Before Drilling”

If you want to be a blithering idiot and spout your anti-fossil fuel garbage–do it all you want. But don’t abuse your own children by making them do it too. And if you want to try to shake down a company with deep pockets to line your own pocket–same thing. Go for it. It’s sleazy and slimy–but don’t involve your kids in your unethical schemes. That’s just what the Elys have done. In a bid to try and rescue a trial that in all likelihood is about to be dismissed for lack of evidence, plantiffs Scott and Monica Ely had their lawyer put their own children, ages 10-13, on the witness stand. Who would do that to their own children? Even when the plantiffs’ lawyer, the inept Leslie Lewis, asked leading questions in an attempt to tug at the jury’s heartstrings, the entire effort was a bust. The Elys and Huberts, suing Cabot Oil & Gas for allegedly contaminating their water in Dimock, PA, are about out of options. After resting their case, the judge told the plantiffs he has “grave concerns” about the case and lack of evidence. The judge is seriously considering dismissing the case before it reaches the jury…
Read More “Dimock Trial Update: Parents Use Their Kids to Rescue Case…Fail”

Yesterday we brought you first-hand reporting on Day 1 of testimony from so-called expert witness Dr. Anthony (Tony the Tiger) Ingraffea at the Dimock water trial (see Dimock Trial: Cornell Prof Tony Ingraffea Exposed as Fractivist). Both MDN friend Tom Shepstone and FrackNation filmmaker Phelim McAleer are attending the trial and filing superb reports. It’s a good thing they are there. The Democrat-controlled Scranton Times-Tribune–the “newspaper of record” in the very place where the trial is being held–has stopped reporting on the trial, because the news is just so bad for anti-drillers. It’s a total news blackout by mainstream media. But there is a TON of news coming from this trial, and none of it so interesting as the total destruction of Ingraffea under cross examination. He’s not only been exposed as a fractivist, he’s been exposed as knowing nothing about the Dimock water well case! The very case he’s supposed to know about–the very reason he is testifying as an “expert.” Below is a summary of day two of Ingraffea’s testimony, in which he admits to a huge list of things he doesn’t know. Also below, Phelim got his camera out and tried to interview Ingraffea outside the courthouse and Ingraffea, sounding like a baby muttering “He’s harassing me,” hid behind a woman’s coat and wouldn’t answer Phelim’s questions. It’s hysterical! You have to watch the video (below)…
Read More “Dimock Trial: Ingraffea Day 2 – Hides Behind a Woman’s Coat”

MDN has written, forever, about fractivist professor from Cornell University Tony Ingraffea. We still recall the first time we heard “Tony the Tiger” in person nearly six years ago (see Cornell Hydraulic Fracturing Expert Headlines First Meeting of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) in Vestal, NY). We said this at the time: Dr. Ingraffea is an accomplished speaker. He is equal parts comedian and expert, and he knows how to “work a crowd.” Indeed. He has since retired from Cornell but has created a cottage industry for himself in bashing natural gas and shale energy. The dunderheaded lawyer representing the two families suing Cabot Oil & Gas for contaminating their water in Dimock, PA called Tony the Tiger to the witness stand, as an “expert witness.” At first he wowed the crowd and the jury. We told you, he’s a good speaker. He also claimed, under oath, he’s not a protester or fractivist (an outright lie–perjury in our opinion). Cabot’s lawyers proceeded to shred his credibility under cross examination. Turns out Tony has never been involved with drilling or fracking a single well. Ever. The only thing he does is sit his rear-end in front of a computer and make pretty pie charts and “analyze” data. Oh, and he attends anti-fracking rallies too–as he admitted under oath to the Cabot lawyer. So much for the “expert” witness who claims he’s just a scientist and not a radical anti-driller…
Read More “Dimock Trial: Cornell Prof Tony Ingraffea Exposed as Fractivist”

The hits just keep rollin’ in from the Dimock “Cabot polluted my water” trial being held in Scranton, PA. It’s more like a comedy show than a trial. We wonder if the plantiffs will sue their own attorney for gross incompetence when it’s all done. Here’s the latest from last Thursday/Friday. The plantiffs’ attorney put an “expert witness” on the stand, Paul Rubin. Cabot’s lawyers proceeded to shred his testimony to pieces and show him as an anti-drilling activist with an agenda. Read MDN friend Tom Shepstone’s summary below–it’s prime. Also late last week the plantiffs’ attorney, for the second time admitted in open court, stated that the trial is not about frack fluid getting into well water–but rather about methane migration. For years people like Josh Fox of Gasland fame have falsely claimed frack fluids were the source of contamination in Dimock. That old lie is, once and for all, now exposed. Not even the plantiffs make that claim. We’d say this trial has served a useful purpose: to expose the anti-fossil fuel agenda and its peddlers as being truth-challenged…
Read More “Dimock Trial Update: Plaintiffs’ Expert Witness Exposed as Fracktivist”

Yesterday the lead Dimock plantiff in the lawsuit against Cabot Oil & Gas, Scott Ely, was on the witness stand to talk about how Cabot destroyed his water supply. Except when you read even biased news sources like PBS’ StateImpact Pennsylvania, it appears Ely didn’t do a lot of talking about his water but about his own tenure in working for Cabot. Ely attempted to smear Cabot’s reputation by making wild claims about the reckless nature of their operations. Of course Ely’s attorney hopes the jury will infer that if Cabot was reckless in other activities, they were likely reckless when they drilled near Ely’s home and caused his water to become contaminated with methane–a problem that is fixable (although Ely wouldn’t allow Cabot to fix it). In addition to Ely’s testimony, his attorney asked the judge, yet again, to allow 300 new pieces of “evidence” that she tried to slip in at the last minute, an ambush of Cabot’s attorneys. And once again the judge said “no” to her request…
Read More “Dimock Resident Scott Ely Takes the Stand in Lawsuit Against Cabot”

By Phelim McAleer

The Ely family in Dimock, Pennsylvania is suing an oil and gas company alleging they contaminated their water well through fracking. Dimock has become a focal point for anti-fracking activists with many calling it “Ground zero” for pollution. Dimock and the Ely’s have been featured in national and international news reports and documentaries. Celebrities such as Mark Ruffalo, Yoko Ono, and Susan Sarandon have visited the tiny community to sympathize. But yesterday in the first day of the trial, facts started to emerge that show the truth is much different from the previously reported stories. Questioned under oath, Scott Ely’s claims look a lot less certain and he looks a lot less credible. Below are five facts that emerged during the first day that expose serious problems with Ely’s claims that his water was contaminated by fracking.
Read More “Guest Post: Dimock Plaintiff Exposed Under Cross Examination”

Yesterday saw opening arguments in the case of two Dimock, PA families who are suing Cabot Oil & Gas with a claim that Cabot’s drilling “contaminated” their well water supplies (see Dimock Trial Starts Today – 2 Families Try to Shake Down Cabot). MDN friend and top film documentary maker Phelim McAleer–creator of the excellent FrackNation documentary–noticed a very important admission by the attorneys for the plaintiffs. In their opening arguments, the attorneys for the landowners admit that there is “no scientific proof” that fracking fluid ever reached or contaminated the plaintiffs’ water wells. We’ve known that and have trumpeted that for years. This case has always been about methane (natural gas itself) “migrating” through the ground into the water wells as a result of Cabot’s drilling program. That’s what is at issue: Did Cabot’s drilling cause methane migration? But the general public, because of propaganda films like Gasland and Gasland II, believe fracking chemicals had somehow seeped into the water wells in Dimock. Not true–and now it’s on the record for all, including Josh Fox, to see. The stunning admission by the landowners’ own lawyers that fracking fluid did not contaminate the wells in Dimock totally refutes false claims by Fox and Hollywood stars like Mark Ruffalo who have tried to use Dimock as a rallying cry…
Read More “Dimock Lawyers Admit Frack Fluid Didn’t Contaminate Well Water”