Carter Rd.: ‘It’s not worth it.’

BY ROBERT L. BAKER
Wyoming County Press Examiner

DIMOCK - At Friday's press conference, a Binghamton, N.Y., TV cameraman told the group suing Cabot that New York finally was about to embark on gas drilling in the Marcellus shale.

He asked, "What would you tell them?"

"It's not worth it," representatives of a dozen families shouted almost in unison.

And so, unloaded a stream of stories from the residents of Carter Road and others who live within 1300 feet of a Cabot gas well.

Although the suit contends that Cabot owns and operates 62 gas wells at the present time within a 9-square mile tract in Dimock Township, the following are identified in the suit as likely sources of problems: Baker 1; Gesford 2, 3 and 9; Costello 1 and 2; Lewis 2; Ratzel 3V and 1H; Ely 2, 4 and 6; and Black 2H

Pat Farnelli has six children still at home and noticed in October and November of 2008 they would be fine while at school in the Elk Lake School District but when they were home they would be sick.

And it wouldn't go away with them occasionally getting stomach cramps.

And she also noticed the cat was throwing up.

When she switched to bottled water at her own expense, she noticed everyone did better.

And today, she still has to resort to bottled water at her or her husband's expense because even though hers is within 1,000 feet of a Cabot well site known to have issues, she has not been designated as having a water problem.

She said that the Department of Environmental Protection, however, came out and tested her water this week.

But, the bigger water problem she brought to the public's attention Friday was a jar of brackish water which she claimed was taken off the side of the road after she alleges Cabot dumped wastewater there.

"It's been Hell," she said, noting there was no other way to describe what the neighbors were experiencing sometimes even being accused of being "water tank chasers" because they didn't want to see the stuff dumped along the road.

Craig Sautner agreed, but for different reasons.

His problems happened around the time that a concrete carport of Norma Fiorentino's home blew up from a methane explosion last January 1, Sautner said.

He noted his water line was recently tested and shows 28 percent methane gas.

"We all wonder about when the next explosion will happen," Sautner said. "My kids worry if they will even wake up in the morning. That's no way to live."

And he noted that for those who believe there are big royalty checks, look out.

He said he lives within 1,000 feet of an operating well and for the past 10 months, he has seen two "whopping checks of $45 each."

Down the road Ron Carter, whose front porch is about 500 feet away from the gas well site that went online around mid-September 2008, and whose front yard was the site of the Friday press conference, said that in the beginning, he admits there was a little fascination.

"To be honest, we were one of the first in this area, and we didn't really want to sign, but we were told our neighbors had all signed up, so what were we to do," he said.

He signed up 74 acres at $25 an acre.

And then he watched with child-like anticipation as Cabot put in a vertical well.

The self-proclaimed fan of the Discovery Channel said, "It was entertaining, to be sure" to watch them put in the well.

But then he also discovered some problems.

No one is sure what exactly happened but the best that investigations have been able to prove is that when concrete casings were put in before the actual Cabot well was put in near Carter's home, that maybe some bad concrete was used and pockets of air in the casing allowed methane to escape to an underground aquefir.

Sautner said it caused his water to bubble.

Neighbor Victoria Switzer said it was like having an Alka Seltzer in your water, and has left an orange, blackish, oily scum in the washer. Others said it smelled like a frac tank.

"It bubbles like champagne," she joked.

But it was no laughing matter for Fiorentino, who despite evidence of an explosion, had to beg for water for months before in October 2009, Cabot would finally provide her with a water tank and regular freshwater supply.

Sweitzer said Friday it wasn't until a front page article written by Laura Legere appeared in the Scranton Times-Tribune that Cabot decided they had to do something.

She, Fiorentino and about five others would be regularly visited with freshwater afterwards.

It was too little too late for Carter who took matters into his own hands after being told a water purification system could take the methane out.

After spending $7,000 on the new water system, he discovered the claim was unfounded.

He still has methane in his water.

So do neighbors Mike and Andria Ely who recently had their water tested and it was found to be 45 percent methane.

Attorney Alan Fuchsberg of New York City said that pure and simple, the plaintiffs were never told that there was a possibility that any of the horrors these families have experienced and continue to experience would happen.

That is why they took the "drastic step" of bringing this suit against Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Lewis said.

"They didn't want to go through with this," Lewis noted, but said that Cabot's assurances were not panning out, and so they sought legal recourse with hesitation.

"They're not litigious people," she added. "This is the last step."

Causes of action include violation of the hazardous sites cleanup act, negligence, private nuisance, strict liability, breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, violation of medical monitoring trust funds, gross negligence.

Although attorney Leslie Lewis, also of New York, said the suit doesn't specify the overall dollar amount the plaintiffs were seeking, damages in excess of $75,000 for each of the clients listed would be sought.

Listed on the civil action are Norma J. Fiorentino; Craig and Julia Sautner and two children; Michael and Andrea Ely and two children; Ray and Victoria Hubert and two children; Ronald and Jean Carter; William T. and Sheila A. Ely; Samantha Sebjan and a child; Jimmy Lee and Victoria Switzer; Nolan Scott Ely and Monica Laura Marta-Ely and one child; Jessica and Justin Ely; the estate of Kenneth Ray Ely; Richard and Wendy Seymour; Todd and Jeannette Carter; Patricia Farnelli and six children; Erik and Susan Roos; Frank and Karen Noble and one child; Raymond Kemble; and Emmagene E. Samoy-Ely.