SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, Pa. — The residents of Dimock Township have been waiting for this day for more than ten years as Cabot Oil and Gas, now Coterra Energy, pleaded no contest to one felony count of prohibition of discharge of waste.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office first filed criminal charges against Cabot Oil and Gas back in the summer of 2020.
The charges were related to natural gas wells that Cabot fracked in Dimock Township starting in 2006 or 2007.
Ray Kemble was one of those residents who saw just how badly the residents around him were affected.
"There's children there that haven't seen water, and their kids are in college now; they've never seen water in their house. People have died in our community over this from the stress and everything else," said Ray Kemble, Dimock Township.
Other county residents spoke about their experiences with the fracking contamination and how, after the court's decision, they finally have some justice.
"I'm a proud sixth-generation land owner in this area, and I will stand with my neighbors, and you would be shocked at how many new people have been contaminated just like this in the last fourteen years," said Craig Stevens, Susquehanna County.
"This attorney general was willing to take this case on and see it through; it was the people's lawyer that got it done," said Victoria Switzer, Dimock Township.
Attorney General and Governor-elect Josh Shapiro met with county residents after the hearing.
Shapiro says this is the first step towards correcting an issue that has been going on for far too long.
"I think at that moment where I get to see victoria and others, you know, turn on their tap and not be afraid to take a glass out and take a drink or bathe their kids or grandkids, that's when it will be really over," said Shapiro.
Coterra Energy had no comment on the charges.
Coterra must pay a $444,000 fine to the Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection.
It will also pay $16 million for a community water well and distribution system to be built by Pennsylvania American Water, any water treatment the affected homeowners currently need, and pay the water bill at the current homes of residents affected for 75 years.
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