In ‘Gasland’ community, new tests revive old debate

Oil company says methane in water was present before drilling started

DIMOCK, Pa. - The well water at Ken Morcom and Kim Grosso’s house is laced with so much explosive methane that a Pennsylvania environmental regulator who went there to collect samples this summer decided it would be safer to coast her SUV down the driveway.

Morcom and Grosso want to leave but doubt they could sell a house with tainted water. So, a few weeks ago, they asked the gas driller they blame for polluting their well to buy them out.

“I was hoping they’d fix it. But I’ve given up hope,” said Morcom, 49, who supports drilling but has become disillusioned with Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. “Just let us out of the box.”

“The box” is the couple’s 8-acre spread in rural Dimock Township. But Morcom could have been talking about Dimock.

A patchwork of homes and farms about 150 miles north of Philadelphia, the community became a battleground for pro- and anti-drilling forces after state regulators found Cabot had contaminated 18 residential wells with methane. Homeowners sued, accusing the company of polluting their water with toxic chemicals and methane. Activists and celebrities descended.

It’s a much quieter place these days. But the questions surrounding Dimock’s groundwater have yet to be resolved — and the federal government is back for the first time in more than five years to investigate ongoing claims of contamination. Public health experts visited 25 homes last month to test for bacteria, gases and chemicals.

The testing has resurrected an old debate about the groundwater in Dimock, whose plight was the focus of the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Gasland.”

State regulators say Cabot still hasn’t fixed the water. Cabot says the methane was there long before it began drilling.

Bill Ely said his methane-laced well water looks like milk. He now pipes spring water to his house.

“My place that I’ve worked for all my life is worth nothing,” said Ely, 66.