PA Environment Digest Blog: AG Shapiro: Coterra Energy, Formerly Cabot Oil & Gas, Pleads No Contest To A Criminal Charge Related To Polluting Water Supplies In Dimock, Susquehanna County

On November 29, Attorney General and Governor-elect Josh Shapiro announced Coterra Energy Inc., formerly known as Cabot Oil and Gas, has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of prohibition against discharge of industrial wastes under the state's Clean Streams Law in Dimock, Susquehanna County.

As part of the plea Coterra will pay $16.29 million for the construction of a new public water supply in Susquehanna County.

[Between January 1, 2005 and November 1, 2022, DEP said it received and resolved 4,859 water supply contamination complaints for both conventional oil and gas and unconventional shale gas well drilling. DEP has a list of 392 water supplies it says were affected by drilling.]

“Residents of Dimock have waited far too long for the clean water Pennsylvania’s Constitution is supposed to guarantee all of us,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a press conference today in Susquehanna County. “Today, Coterra, the corporate successor of Cabot Oil and Gas, took full responsibility for the crimes Cabot committed that polluted resident’s water. Under this historic settlement, Coterra will now pay to build a new public water line that will provide clean, reliable drinking water for generations to come.”

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General charged Coterra Energy Inc. in 2020 after a Grand Jury investigation into the contamination of well water in Dimock, Susquehanna County. Read more here.

The investigation revealed that the company’s activities associated with drilling and producing unconventional gas wells were responsible for methane pollution in the local water supply.

This contamination led to multiple Dimock residents suffering from impacts to their own personal water supplies, including the explosion of Norma Fiorentino’s drinking water well in January 2009.

During the investigation, the Grand Jury heard testimony from several residents who shared stories of their water becoming contaminated after allowing Coterra to drill wells on their property.

In some cases the water was so contaminated it even caught fire. These residents and their families were forced to stop drinking their water as it was impacted with metals and high levels of methane.

In order to supply their homes with this necessity, residents had to travel miles to pick up drinking water.

When one resident contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protections to ask when their water would be clean again, they were told that the water would be clean again in several years.

A decade later, at the time of their appearance before the grand jury, the issue had remained unresolved.

Coterra entered a plea to Prohibition Against Discharge of Industrial Wastes, a violation of the Clean Streams Law.

As part of the plea agreement, Coterra will pay $16.29 million toward a new regulated public water line as well as payment of 75 years of water bills for the impacted homeowners.

This money will also be used to provide treatment systems to treat the homeowners’ water supplies and the provision of bottled water while the public water line is under construction.

“This agreement brings justice to the residents of Dimock who for years had been ignored,” said AG Shapiro. “People across the country remember what happened here in Dimock, and now, they will know the rule of law won the day. Companies will take notice that we won’t allow communities like this to be taken advantage of or forgotten.”

The agreement is the result of years of thorough investigation and evaluation by independent experts to sample and analyze the water contamination and develop an engineering plan that would best serve the needs of the residents of Dimock.

The construction and operation of the water line will be overseen by Pennsylvania American Water Company, a company with years of experience providing water to the Commonwealth, that is currently serving nearly 19% of Pennsylvanians.

While it will take time to construct, this water line will ultimately provide the residents of Dimock with clean, safe drinking water when they turn on their tap.

Access to this clean water is a right that has been elusive to these homeowners for more than a decade.

Continuing Water Supply Impacts

Between January 1, 2005 and November 1, 2022, DEP said it received and resolved 4,859 water supply contamination complaints for both conventional oil and gas and unconventional shale gas well drilling, according to its Water Supply Resolved Complaints Database

DEP listed 4,222 as “no final determination;” 305 as “no investigation;” 273 as “final determination of contamination;” and 59 as “undetermined,” but all were listed as “resolved.”

This Database does not include the water supply complaints DEP is still investigating.

DEP has a list of 392 water supplies it has determined were impacted by conventional or unconventional oil and gas drilling either temporarily or permanently, but few specifics are provided.

Some recent examples of water supplies impacted by oil and gas drilling include--

-- The Center for Coalfield Justice will distribute over 3,000 cases of water on November 19 at the New Freeport Fire Company in Greene County to help families who haven’t had clean drinking water since June following an alleged ‘frack-out’ at an EQT shale gas drill pad. Read more here.

-- On October 28, the owner of a Washington County farm-- Bryan Latkanich and his three children Ryan, Hunter and Colton-- filed a lawsuit against Chevron and EQT shale gas companies alleging they violated the terms of their drilling lease by endangering their health, contaminating their water supply and not protecting their land. Read more here.

(Photo: Ray Kemble of Dimock, displays a jug of what he identifies as his contaminated well water, StateImpactPA.)

-- What Can We Expect From Gov. Shapiro, Lt. Gov. Davis On Environmental, Energy Issues? [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- AP: Coterra Energy, Formerly Cabot Oil & Gas, Pleads No Contest To 15 Criminal Charges Related To Polluting Water Supplies In Dimock, Susquehanna County

-- WHYY - Susan Phillips: Natural Gas Driller Will Pay Millions For New Water System In Dimock, Susquehanna County

-- WSJ - Kris Maher: Fracking Company Pleads No Contest To Criminal Pollution Charges In Pennsylvania

-- Inside Climate News - Jon Hurdle: Fracking Company To Pay For Public Water System In Rural PA Town

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: Methane Emissions Limits On Conventional Oil & Gas Wells To Get Emergency Vote Wednesday To Avoid Loss Of Federal Funds

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Malfunction At Shell’s Ethane Plant In Beaver County Turned Sky Orange By Burning Natural Gas Flaring System

-- Erie Times - Brian Whipkey: Raystown Lake Receives National Acclaim For Protecting Fish

-- DEP $1.95 Million Penalty Assessment Against Mariner East 2 Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline Construction Pollution At Raystown Lake Supports Fish Habitat Improvements

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: EQT’s Toby Rice Calls For ‘Unleashing LNG’ Natural Gas To Solve Climate Problem, End Poverty Other Societal Ills