Cabot Oil

In the latest salvo over Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the embattled town of Dimock, a natural gas company on Tuesday alleged that federal regulators had cherry-picked old test data to distort the amount of contamination in drinking-water wells. Cabot Oil & Gas Co., whose drilling was blamed for the pollution, said that the drinking-water tests the Environmental Protection Agency used to justify its Jan. 19 order to deliver fresh water supplies to four Dimock houses "do not accurately represent the water quality" and are inconsistent with the body of data collected at the residences.

More than the drinking water has become poisonous in Susquehanna County. In a sharp rebuke of one of the state's biggest Marcellus Shale gas drillers, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday ordered an $11.8 million pipeline built to deliver water to 18 rural residences in Dimock Township whose household wells are contaminated by natural gas. In response, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Texas driller whose wells the state blames for the pollution, denounced the decision as "unfounded, irrational, and capricious" and accused DEP Secretary John Hanger of "obvious political pandering.

Pennsylvania regulators on Tuesday fined Chesapeake Energy Corp. $1.1 million for natural gas drilling violations, the largest penalty ever in the state's rapidly expanding Marcellus Shale bonanza. Under a consent order signed Monday with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Chesapeake will pay $900,000 for contaminating the private water supplies of 16 residences in Bradford County in northern Pennsylvania. Chesapeake, the largest Marcellus Shale operator, will also pay a $188,000 fine for a Feb. 23 fire at its drilling site in Avella, Washington County, in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The EPA launched yesterday a two-year, $1.9 million study to determine whether hydraulic fracturing, the oil- and gas-production technique used in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region, is a danger to groundwater supplies. "The study will be conducted through a transparent, peer-reviewed process, with significant stakeholder input," said Paul T. Anastas of the EPA's Office of Research and Development. The process, called "fracking," involves injecting water and chemicals into wells under high pressure to break up the source rock to unlock oil and natural gas. Along with horizontal-drilling technology, it has transformed formerly uneconomical drilling sites into lucrative ones.

The editorial "Hold drillers accountable" (Oct. 7) took a predictable - and wrongheaded - position on a recent announcement made by Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger. For nearly a year, Cabot had been working diligently with DEP to address Carter Road water issues. Hanger told Cabot that the "final solution" to restoring clean water would be installing methane separator systems on the affected water wells. While Cabot does not agree that our activities caused the alleged problems with the well water of certain residents in Dimock Township, we provided potable water for an extended period of time, purchased methane separators, and offered to install them on all water wells deemed by DEP to have been "affected.

Penn Virginia Corp. of Radnor on Tuesday reported disappointing production rates on its first three horizontal Marcellus Shale natural gas wells. "The Marcellus Shale test wells had initial production rates which fell short of our expectations," H. Baird Whitehead, the company's chief executive, said in a statement. The test wells in the central part of Penn Virginia's 35,000-acre position in Potter and Tioga Counties are expected to be connected to pipelines in August, when natural gas sales will begin.

On the heels of penalizing one natural gas operator $240,000 for contaminating water wells, Pennsylvania's top environmental official Thursday urged the industry to immediately adopt proposed new drilling standards rather than waiting for them to be formally enacted. John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, summoned industry representatives to Harrisburg to discuss new construction standards for wells drilled to tap natural gas reserves. The new guidelines are designed to reduce the chance of incidents such as the one that has contaminated 14 water wells in the Susquehanna County town of Dimock.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection fined a Marcellus Shale operator $240,000 Thursday, ordered it to plug three gas wells, and banned it from drilling for one year in a Susquehanna County community that has been plagued with contaminated water wells. DEP Secretary John Hanger said Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. of Houston had failed to correct problems that caused gas to migrate to 14 residential water wells in Dimock Township. One water well exploded last year, an incident often cited by activists who are seeking a moratorium on drilling.

Former governors can choose many career paths. Some of them become college presidents. Some go on the lecture circuit. And then there's Tom Ridge, who is set to become a paid shill for the natural-gas drillers swarming his native state. The Marcellus Shale Coalition, which represents natural-gas companies, has been negotiating to hire Ridge's lobbying firm. The industry wants the ex-governor's help with a campaign to educate the public about the benefits of drilling. It's unclear how much Ridge will be paid, but he doesn't come cheap.

In the latest salvo over Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the embattled town of Dimock, a natural gas company on Tuesday alleged that federal regulators had cherry-picked old test data to distort the amount of contamination in drinking-water wells. Cabot Oil & Gas Co., whose drilling was blamed for the pollution, said that the drinking-water tests the Environmental Protection Agency used to justify its Jan. 19 order to deliver fresh water supplies to four Dimock houses "do not accurately represent the water quality" and are inconsistent with the body of data collected at the residences.

Penn Virginia Corp. of Radnor on Tuesday reported disappointing production rates on its first three horizontal Marcellus Shale natural gas wells. "The Marcellus Shale test wells had initial production rates which fell short of our expectations," H. Baird Whitehead, the company's chief executive, said in a statement. The test wells in the central part of Penn Virginia's 35,000-acre position in Potter and Tioga Counties are expected to be connected to pipelines in August, when natural gas sales will begin.

Pennsylvania regulators on Tuesday fined Chesapeake Energy Corp. $1.1 million for natural gas drilling violations, the largest penalty ever in the state's rapidly expanding Marcellus Shale bonanza. Under a consent order signed Monday with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Chesapeake will pay $900,000 for contaminating the private water supplies of 16 residences in Bradford County in northern Pennsylvania. Chesapeake, the largest Marcellus Shale operator, will also pay a $188,000 fine for a Feb. 23 fire at its drilling site in Avella, Washington County, in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Gov. Rendell called it quits last week on his yearlong effort to enact a Marcellus Shale natural gas tax. But Rendell was not the only loser in the tax debate. The natural gas industry survived Rendell's effort to enact a severance tax on gas production, but its image has been badly battered by a confluence of negative publicity, starting with the tax debate and magnified by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "As an industry, we're just doing a horrible job on communication until recently," said Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Range Resources Corp.

The editorial "Hold drillers accountable" (Oct. 7) took a predictable - and wrongheaded - position on a recent announcement made by Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger. For nearly a year, Cabot had been working diligently with DEP to address Carter Road water issues. Hanger told Cabot that the "final solution" to restoring clean water would be installing methane separator systems on the affected water wells. While Cabot does not agree that our activities caused the alleged problems with the well water of certain residents in Dimock Township, we provided potable water for an extended period of time, purchased methane separators, and offered to install them on all water wells deemed by DEP to have been "affected.

Charter schools can build character Davis Guggenheim's film Waiting for Superman has become a catalyst and inspiration for the public to be engaged in the conversation about education. However, there also is an interesting study done by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes that found that only 17 percent of charters did a better job than the comparable local public school, while more than a third did "significantly worse. " I think the center's research misses an important point.

More than the drinking water has become poisonous in Susquehanna County. In a sharp rebuke of one of the state's biggest Marcellus Shale gas drillers, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday ordered an $11.8 million pipeline built to deliver water to 18 rural residences in Dimock Township whose household wells are contaminated by natural gas. In response, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Texas driller whose wells the state blames for the pollution, denounced the decision as "unfounded, irrational, and capricious" and accused DEP Secretary John Hanger of "obvious political pandering.

Former governors can choose many career paths. Some of them become college presidents. Some go on the lecture circuit. And then there's Tom Ridge, who is set to become a paid shill for the natural-gas drillers swarming his native state. The Marcellus Shale Coalition, which represents natural-gas companies, has been negotiating to hire Ridge's lobbying firm. The industry wants the ex-governor's help with a campaign to educate the public about the benefits of drilling. It's unclear how much Ridge will be paid, but he doesn't come cheap.

Pennsylvania environmental regulators have issued nearly 565 citations against Marcellus Shale natural gas operators so far this year - about twice last year's pace. Five companies were responsible for half the violations, and nearly three-quarters of them occurred in five north-central Pennsylvania counties where shale-gas drilling is most intensely concentrated, according to a report by the Department of Environmental Protection sent Wednesday to the state Senate's Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.