A lawsuit has been filed in federal court seeking compensation from a natural gas drilling company operating in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County.
Fifteen families living on one township road, an area that has been identified by state environmental regulators as having contaminated drinking water infused with methane, filed the suit in order to force Cabot Oil & Gas to repair alleged damage to their properties “as a consequence of drilling for natural gas,” said the law firm that is representing the families in a statement.
A press conference will be held Friday morning at the entrance of a natural gas well pad on Carter Road to officially announce the court action.
The legal complaint is mostly centered on the methane contamination that actually afflicted a nine-square mile area, according to environmental regulators.
Carter Road is home to some of the residences that are now being provided drinking water by the natural gas operator since ordered by the state environmental regulator to do so after it was found that their wells were polluted with methane. One well literally exploded on New Year’s Day.
Methane is the principal component of natural gas, and it can be dislodged from its underground reserves if a natural gas operator fails to properly contain it.
Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas has extensively drilled for natural gas in the township and the surrounding area. A company spokesperson was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
On November 4, the state Department of Environmental Protection fined the company $120,000 for allowing methane to enter the local drinking water aquifer. The extent of the contamination was discovered after the well exploded on New Year’s Day.
“These families entered into gas lease agreements with Cabot Oil & Gas. ... These lease agreements allowed Cabot to extract natural gas from beneath their properties in exchange for monetary compensation,” according to the statement. “These families, like so many others who signed leases, had high hopes for a better future with the revenue this activity was supposed to provide.”
The families are being represented by Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm, a prominent New York City-based firm that has litigated several civil-rights cases, and Zarwin Baum Devito Kaplan Schaer Toddy, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“It’s the little guy standing up for themselves, and they left a mess” said Michael Lebron, a spokesperson for the litigants. “It’s David versus Goliath.”
Six Carter Road residents are expected to speak at Friday’s press conference, along with two of their attorneys.
The complaint asks that the company return their well water to its original state prior to gas drilling.
The families are further suing the company “for their loss of property value, emotional distress, and personal injury,” according to the statement.