Susquehanna County

Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Promises Water for Dimock PA, Reneges 24 Hours Later
January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

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.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

New Cases of Methane Water Well Contamination by Cabot in PA
January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

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.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA “May” Start Testing Dimock, PA Water in 2 Weeks
January 6, 2012January 6, 2012

Earlier this week, MDN reported that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency prone to overstep its legal authority, is once again nosing around Dimock, PA (see this MDN story). After writing to tell Carter Road residents in the Dimock area that their drinking water was just fine on Dec. 2 of last year, they reversed course last week and expressed concerns over “gaps” in water testing data. Now it seems that the EPA themselves will conduct their own tests of water in Dimock.

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot is S&P 500’s Top Performer for 2011, Production Up 154%
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

Cabot Oil & Gas finished 2011 as the S&P 500 top performer. The energy company’s stock value increased by a whopping 101% in 2011, despite falling natural gas prices. Cabot increased their dividend to shareholders by 33 percent and the company has declared a two-for-one stock split to be distributed later this month.

Cabot more than doubled natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale last year, largely due to their exceptionally productive wells in northeastern Pennsylvania, including Dimock, PA in Susquehanna County. Yesterday, Cabot released new numbers for just how productive their wells have become, passing the 600 million cubic feet (Mmcf) per day mark in combined output:

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Says Gaps Exist in Dimock, PA Water Tests
January 3, 2012January 3, 2012

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).

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Broome County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Laser Northeast Gathering | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | Williams

Laser Northeast Pipeline Selling to Williams for $750M
December 23, 2011December 23, 2011

Laser Northeast Gathering, a 33-mile natural gas pipeline that cost $55 million to build and stretches from the very active Marcellus Shale drilling area of Susquehanna County (in northeastern PA) to Broome County (in New York’s Southern Tier), connecting to the interstate Millennium Pipeline, announced yesterday the company is selling itself to Williams Partners for $750 million. The deal covers Laser’s contracts to expand the pipeline and commitments from customers already signed on. When the project is fully completed it will have 75 miles of pipeline. Laser is a subsidiary of Delphi Midstream Partners.

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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

Clean Air Council Targets Pipeline Compressor Plants
December 19, 2011December 19, 2011

The Clean Air Council, an anti-drilling environmental group, has set its sights on preventing new compressor stations from being built in the Marcellus Shale as one way to slow down or stop new drilling. Compressor stations remove moisture and pressurize natural gas to move it through pipelines. The two biggest concerns most people have with compressor stations are air emissions and noise—both legitimate concerns.

Compressor stations are regulated and monitored by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also getting involved by using the federal Clean Air Act, which brings some compressor plants under their purview.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

New Report Says No Health Threats from Spills in Dimock PA
December 15, 2011December 15, 2011

In December 2009, Dimock Township (PA) resident Scott Ely, an employee of Cabot Oil & Gas drilling subsidiary GasSearch Drilling Services, made claims of hidden or ignored spills, leaking pits and shoddy practices to both state environmental regulators and Cabot officials. Ely identified 11 sites where he said such problems had occurred. Cabot contracted with URS Corp. to investigate the claims and either prove or disprove them. A final URS report has just been issued which says it found nothing in the streams, ponds and soil it sampled at levels that would pose a risk to human health.

The report (a copy is embedded below) says URS did find some substances which may indicate past spills from natural gas drilling operations, but that the substances they found do not have state-mandated limits for soil and water.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Judge Denies Request to Restart Water Deliveries in Dimock PA
December 14, 2011December 14, 2011

Last Friday, Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board Judge Bernard Labuskes, Jr. denied an appeal from 11 families in the Carter Road area of Dimock Township, PA who were asking that water shipments from Cabot Oil & Gas be restored. The 11 families, from an original group of 19 families, decided to not accept a remediation solution ordered by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that directed Cabot to pay the families up to twice the value of their homes and to install filtration systems that would remove all methane from their water supplies.

Because of their ongoing refusal to accept the remediation solution offered, preferring instead to pursue litigation with Cabot, the DEP finally told Cabot they could end water deliveries to those families as of Nov. 30—deliveries that have been ongoing for more than two years.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Dueling Press Conferences in Dimock PA
December 7, 2011December 7, 2011

In the ongoing press event that is Dimock, PA, yesterday Gasland creator Josh Fox and actor Mark Rufalo, among others, gathered in Dimock to keep up the pressure and to continue to demagogue what has really happened in Dimock. See MDN’s previous coverage for background. A brief summary of events leading up to yesterday’s dueling press conferences:

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Accidents | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Tells Dimock Families Their Water is Safe to Use
December 5, 2011December 5, 2011

A new email from the federal Environmental Protection Agency says the water wells for 19 affected families in Dimock, PA have tested fine and do not pose a threat to those families. Yet, some of those families are still grabbing headlines by playing the victim, claiming their water is undrinkable. Who to believe?

The Dimock situation is difficult to understand, being shrouded in so many layers of publicity stunts it’s hard to know what the real story is. As near as MDN can tell, in a nutshell:

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Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Susquehanna County

Feds Make a Visit to Dimock PA Families Last Week
November 14, 2011November 14, 2011

The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry visited some of the families in Dimock, PA affected by methane migration last Thursday. The were particularly interested in getting copies of water sample results from entities other than the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection or Cabot Oil & Gas.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Laser Northeast Gathering | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

PA Pipeline Allowed to Withdraw Public Utility Application
November 11, 2011November 11, 2011

Laser Northeast Gathering is a 30-mile, $55 million pipeline being built from Susquehanna County, PA to across the border in Broome County, NY. When complete, the pipeline will connect wells in Susquehanna County with the Millennium Pipeline which runs through Broome County. As MDN previously reported, Laser Northeast had filed for public utility status and then eventually withdrew that application when the need for eminent domain was no longer necessary.

The final chapter in that story is now written. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday voted to officially allow Laser Northeast to withdraw the application they had once submitted.

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Court Tells Dimock PA Residents to Share Medical Records
November 10, 2011November 10, 2011

A group of more than 60 residents in the Dimock, PA area sued Cabot Oil & Gas in 2009 claiming they had been exposed to pollution as a result of hydraulic fracturing in the area. The lawsuit wants Cabot to pay for medical monitoring as part of the settlement, but they refused to allow Cabot access to their medical records in order to verify their claims. Last week a court told the claimants if they want Cabot to pay, they will have to share their medical records.

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Bradford County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County

Southwestern Energy has 40 Wells in Northeast PA
October 28, 2011October 28, 2011

Southwestern Energy provides the following update of its Marcellus Shale activities in its recently released third quarter report. The update shows that Southwestern’s Marcellus activity is concentrated in Bradford and Susquehanna counties in PA.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Final Resolution to Dimock, PA Water Problem?
October 21, 2011October 21, 2011

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.

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