Gas driller to pay $4.1 million in settlement

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG — The state Department of Environmental Protection has abandoned its plan to force a Houston-based drilling company to pay nearly $12 million to extend a public water line to residents whose wells have been contaminated with methane gas, citing a lack of political support.

Environmental regulators say Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. instead will pay residents of Dimock a total of $4.1 million under a settlement with the company announced late Wednesday. Cabot also has agreed to pay to install whole-house gas mitigation systems in each of the 19 affected homes.

The settlement infuriated residents, who say the DEP caved to political pressure.

“Pretty nice that Cabot can do whatever they want,” said Craig Sautner, a Dimock resident who is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against Cabot.

Environmental Secretary John Hanger had announced the water line plan in late September before cheering residents in Dimock in Susquehanna County where tainted wells have raised concerns nationwide about the consequences of gas drilling.

Blaming the contamination of the residents’ aquifer on faulty Marcellus Shale gas wells drilled by Cabot, Hanger declared that the DEP would sue the company unless it agreed to pay nearly $12 million to extend municipal water service from Montrose.

The plan had provoked significant opposition among local officials, who called it a boondoggle and threatened to sue to block it.