>A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, one of Pennsylvania’s leading natural gas companies is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years for polluting the water supply.
>Coterra Energy Inc. has won permission from state environmental regulators to drill 11 gas wells underneath Dimock Township, in the state’s northeastern corner — the sweet spot of the largest natural gas field in the United States, according to well permit records reviewed by The Associated Press. Billions of dollars worth of natural gas, now locked in shale rock deep underground, await Coterra’s drilling rigs.
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>After years of litigation and a grand jury probe that resulted in criminal charges, the company pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count Nov. 29, 2022. Under a plea agreement, Coterra agreed to foot the bill for a $16 million public water system to supply 20 homes whose water wells had been damaged, and to pay for temporary treatment systems for those who want them.
>But for some of the residents, elation about the water line turned to anger when they learned the Department of Environmental Protection had quietly lifted its long-term moratorium on gas production in Dimock. State officials have denied that Coterra pleaded no contest in exchange for being allowed to drill, but residents like Victoria Switzer said they felt deceived.
>“I have seen how justice played out here, and it’s not justice,” said Switzer, whose well was among those found to be contaminated, and who has not had a drink from her kitchen faucet since 2009.
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>A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, one of Pennsylvania’s leading natural gas companies is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years for polluting the water supply.
>Coterra Energy Inc. has won permission from state environmental regulators to drill 11 gas wells underneath Dimock Township, in the state’s northeastern corner — the sweet spot of the largest natural gas field in the United States, according to well permit records reviewed by The Associated Press. Billions of dollars worth of natural gas, now locked in shale rock deep underground, await Coterra’s drilling rigs.
….
>After years of litigation and a grand jury probe that resulted in criminal charges, the company pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count Nov. 29, 2022. Under a plea agreement, Coterra agreed to foot the bill for a $16 million public water system to supply 20 homes whose water wells had been damaged, and to pay for temporary treatment systems for those who want them.
>But for some of the residents, elation about the water line turned to anger when they learned the Department of Environmental Protection had quietly lifted its long-term moratorium on gas production in Dimock. State officials have denied that Coterra pleaded no contest in exchange for being allowed to drill, but residents like Victoria Switzer said they felt deceived.
>“I have seen how justice played out here, and it’s not justice,” said Switzer, whose well was among those found to be contaminated, and who has not had a drink from her kitchen faucet since 2009.
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