DIMOCK, Pa. (AP) – AP is reporting… One of Pennsylvania’s biggest gas drillers is facing newer allegations of pollution in a rural community where it is already charged with fouling residents’ drinking water wells with high levels of methane. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. was charged in 2020 with violating state environmental laws after a grand jury investigation found the Houston-based driller failed to fix faulty gas wells that had been leaking methane into aquifers in Dimock and surrounding communities for more than a decade. The grand jury criticized what it called Cabot’s “long-term indifference to the damage it caused to the environment and citizens of Susquehanna County.”
A preliminary hearing in that case was postponed repeatedly before the company’s attorney’s formally waived it Friday. The waiver means the charges are forwarded to Susquehanna County Court for a potential trial, though the drilling giant says it has been in discussions with the attorney general’s office on a settlement. The company has previously pushed back against the grand jury’s accusations and defended its record in the community. “This waiver demonstrates Coterra’s goal of achieving an amicable resolution with the Office of Attorney General. We look forward to continued productive conversations with the Office of Attorney General,” said George Stark, a spokesperson for Cabot’s corporate successor, Coterra Energy Inc.
