LINK: Drinking Dimock: A Glass Full of Gas Water
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by Melissa Troutman on December 5, 2011
If the case of groundwater contamination by natural gas drilling in Dimock, Pennsylvania sets precedent for how the state deals with damaged private water wells, they may not require that the party responsible for the contamination restore your water permanently, depending upon the definitions of “restore” and “permanent.”
Dimock Sets Precendent
Nearly three years ago, 18 residential water wells servicing 19 homes in Dimock, Pennsylvania were contaminated by the natural gas operations of Cabot Oil & Gas, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
DEP initially issued a number of violations for improper drilling practices in Dimock and a consent order requiring Cabot to provide residents with “water in the amounts sufficient to satisfy water usage needs” until DEP notified the company that it had “determined that the Affected Water Supply had been restored.”
The DEP’s investigation began when a water well exploded at one Dimock residence on Janurary 1, 2009 due to methane migration.
