Ron Carter and wife, Jean of Dimock, Pa., were first approached by Cabot Oil and Gas Co. representatives in late August of 2006 with a lease offer that seemed, at the time, to be very lucrative for their 75 acres of land.
The Carters said the various Cabot officials who visited their home – located, ironically, on Carter Road – convinced them that their neighbors had all signed similar deals, and if they refused, Cabot would be drilling for the natural gas lying in the Marcellus Shale under their property anyway.
While he admitted to being uncertain, Ron said he and his wife discussed their options and ultimately agreed to sign on with the company for $25 per acre. The money went toward that year’s property taxes.
But it was a decision the couple has regretted ever since. What followed has haunted the long-time Dimock residents – and 17 nearby neighbors – every day for the past four and a half years.
Following a series of drilling tests – at depths of 8,000, 10,000 and 12,000 feet – Carter said he was informed there was no potential for natural gas drilling on his property. A little over two years later, in September of 2008, drilling commenced at a well just 320 feet from his front porch, right on his property line.
And in late October of 2008, the couple said their water began to emit a strange smell and taste increasingly bad.
The Carters are just one of 18 families who are blaming the Cabot Oil and Gas Co. for the contamination of their drinking water due to natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The horizontal drilling process needed to release natural gas from tight shale formations involves the injection of thousands of gallons of fresh water, sand and chemical additives under high pressure into a well.
“We’ve seen the effects of natural gas drilling and we’ve kept a detailed record ever since,” stated Ron. “We couldn’t use it and we couldn’t shower with it because it coated your skin. We couldn’t drink it or cook with it. We traveled to the Montrose artisan well just so we could have water for both.”
The couple soon went to Cabot, simply to make the company aware of the problems they were experiencing. They were told there was nothing the oil and gas company could do for them. Carter then contacted the corporate office in West Virginia. He was told the problem had nothing to do with Cabot’s drilling. A request for the installation of a water purification system was subsequently denied.
In the end, the Carters were forced to purchase not one, but two water purification systems – at approximately $7,000 apiece – one for themselves and a second for their son, daughter-in-law and grandson, who lived next door and shared the same well – and the same problems.
“We live on a fixed income, but we had to have something put in,” said Carter.
Unfortunately, prior to the installation of the purification systems, the Carters were informed the equipment would not remove the methane which had been discovered in their water on Jan. 18, 2009, when the couple received a visit from the local fire department, Cabot and the DEP. On New Year’s Day, just 17 days earlier, neighbor Norma Fiorentino’s well cap had exploded. One week after the explosion, families at four nearby homes had to be evacuated due to dangerous methane levels.
According to Jean Carter – following a meeting of concerned Dimock citizens in early February – Cabot began delivering water to several Dimock residents and installing methane vents at contaminated water wells. Periodically throughout that summer, however, the methane build-up was so bad it would blow the caps off, she said.
In December of 2009, Cabot shut down the families’ well for good and installed a separate water system to avoid a possible methane explosion.
“These checks that people are receiving are not worth it when it destroys your water,” Ron stated. “You can’t replace the water. Once it’s gone you’ll never have it back.”
Carter’s wife added she’s adamant that drilling without negative consequences is not only impossible, but ridiculously so.
The methane contamination experienced by the Carters and their neighbors is just one example of shale drilling-related accidents that have occurred throughout the country. In Washington County, Pa., three-quarters of a mile of stream was reportedly polluted by a leaking wastewater pipe at a gas well site, killing fish and other aquatic life. Cattle were allegedly killed due to leaked fracturing fluids at drill sites in Shreveport, La., and Superfund investigators for the EPA found benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater near the town of Pavillion, Wyoming that they believe may be linked to drilling activities there. In West Virginia, hydrocarbons and other harmful chemicals used in the drilling process have been blamed for multiple earthquakes.
These drilling-related accidents and allegations against Cabot Oil and Gas, Range Resources, Chesapeake Energy and other energy companies drilling into shale formations no doubt spurred the Obama Administration – in March of 2010 – to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to launch a two-year study into the effects of hydraulic fracturing.
Also, in November last year, the Pittsburgh City Council unanimously voted to ban natural gas drilling from within city limits, citing health and environmental concerns.
But despite the call for more review of the high water volume horizontal drilling practice – specifically the identity of the chemicals used as part of hydraulic fracturing fluid – the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Director John Hanger have repeatedly assured the state’s residents that the state’s aquifers, streams and rivers are safe. Instead of hydraulic fracturing, the main sources for water pollution have been surface spills and on-site diesel engine accidents, which were subsequently remedied, he reported.
Nonetheless, the DEP did take action in a lawsuit against Cabot. In an open letter to the residents of Dimock dated Nov. 19, DEP Secretary Jamie Legenos stated the DEP was “forced to take action since Cabot continues to deny responsibility for the contamination, despite overwhelming evidence of its responsibility.” In mid-December, a settlement was reached between the DEP and Cabot, which awarded $4.1 million dollars to the families whose drinking water was allegedly contaminated – $344,000 of which went to the Carters.
Cabot continues to deny responsibility, however.
The Carters and their neighbors have filed a separate lawsuit against Cabot for suffering undisclosed health-related issues related to drilling activities. The couple would not specifically comment on that lawsuit.
“We were led to believe this would be a gold mine and told our water would always be protected, that they’d take special precautions to not damage our water,” stated Jean Carter. “There’s going to be more destruction all around here. There will be more water wells damaged and the scenery won’t ever be like it was. It will destroy the environment and ourselves.”
Even much smaller energy companies exploring for natural gas in the Appalachian River Basin, such as Norse Energy – the entity drilling in Chenango County – blame Cabot and other companies for not being more cautious at the start of this new endeavor. In fact, the accidents have had a decided impact on Norse’s future outlook for exploring this region’s shales, and the reputation of many companies throughout the industry.
“It appears to me that Cabot initially went along with taking responsibility for the contamination and the spill at the surface that caused it, but it’s not hydraulic fracturing that caused it. They’ve had naturally occurring methane for many years there,” stated Steve Keiss, an engineer with Norse Energy. “Cabot took the quick way out with regulators by taking responsibility, paying the fine to be able to keep moving along. These early accidents are giving a black name to all of us.”
Staff Writer Melissa deCordova contributed to this article.