Posted on 04/01/2017 5:03:05 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A federal judge has thrown out a $4.24 million jury verdict against one of the largest natural gas producers in Pennsylvania and ordered a new trial in a lawsuit alleging Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. contaminated the well water of two families.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson on Friday set aside the verdict reached a year ago by a jury in Scranton, saying the evidence presented by the Dimock homeowners “was spare, sometimes contradictory, frequently rebutted by other scientific expert testimony, and relied in some measure upon tenuous inferences.”
Carlson also said the plaintiffs presented no evidence that would justify a multi-million dollar award.
The judge, however, declined to decide the case in favor of the company and, instead, ordered a new trial. He said that before any trial, the parties should have settlement discussions with the aid of another judge. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Idiot Josh Fox and his Gasland BS. Maybe the wells were contaminated, maybe not. It’s possible to determine it through chemical and isotopic analysis. If so then the company owes it to the homeowners to bring in a safe water supply. I find it hard to believe that that costs over 4 million. Hell, buy them out at double the property value.
I grew up north of Scranton, I remember 50 years ago, farmer friends in school would tell how they could set the water pickets on fire, well water has gas in it. There were gas pockets all over the country side. Long before they started drilling for it.
More here:
The Elys and Huberts were among a group of more than 40 Dimock residents who sued Cabot in 2009, claiming that the Houston gas producer’s rush to drill the Marcellus Shale had polluted their water wells.
All but the Elys and Huberts settled in 2012 after tests showed the wells contained elevated levels of methane but none of the chemicals associated with gas drilling.
The Elys and Huberts were among a group of more than 40 Dimock residents who sued Cabot in 2009, claiming that the Houston gas producer’s rush to drill the Marcellus Shale had polluted their water wells.
All but the Elys and Huberts settled in 2012 after tests showed the wells contained elevated levels of methane but none of the chemicals associated with gas drilling
Dimock was the focus of the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, lengthy investigations by federal and state environmental agencies, and protests by anti-drilling activists after residents complained of water contamination when Cabot ramped up drilling in 2008.
I have rural vacant acreage in Candor NY. There are spots on my land where you can see the iridescent sheen of oil on random puddles. I had an old timer walk the place with me before I made an offer on it and he told me that that sort of stuff is very common and normal as the shale beneath the surface release oil.
I brought it years before the fracking stuff started. Maybe it will pay off some day. BWAHAHAHAA
Wonder who they’ll sue when the burning underground coal gets closer and fires up the puddles of oil known long before the Shale drillers got there.......that beast still isn’t out last I heard.
I worked in the area of Wilksbarre for a time and went to Centralia to see the underground fire....terrible place to see when viewing the ground smoking and barren trees etc.
The fires continue to burn and move toward the Wilksbarre area last I knew....and Scranton runs right along that corridor.
Yes, I sure would be out of that area.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.