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U.S. NEWS Friday 6 March 2020

Gas driller pulls out of

talks in $5M suit against

resident

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM drilling in a 9-square-mile
Associated Press (23-square-kilometer) area
One of Pennsylvania's larg- of Dimock, a rural commu-
est gas drillers pulled out nity 150 miles (240 kilome-
of settlement talks aimed ters) north of Philadelphia.
at resolving its $5 million Cabot, which has long
lawsuit against a resident denied responsibility, has
whose drinking water was been waging a fierce
contaminated and who PR and legal campaign
has spent years bashing against Kemble and other
the energy industry. fracking opponents who
Houston-based Cabot Oil the company says are
& Gas Corp. sued Dimock funded by deep-pocketed
resident Ray Kemble and environmental groups to This Feb. 4, 2018, file photo shows Ray Kemble speaking with reporters outside the Susquehanna
his former lawyers in 2017, spread falsehoods about County Courthouse in Montrose, Pa.
claiming they tried to extort Cabot. The company, Associated Press
the company through frivo- which is publicly traded,
lous litigation. Cabot also has said it sees the litiga- Stark asserted that Kemble sought to have Kemble cized the company for its
claims Kemble violated tion against Kemble and his and others had perpetu- thrown in jail for failing to $5 million demand, say-
a 2012 settlement agree- former lawyers as a way to ated a "hoax" that gas drill- appear at depositions. ing Cabot announced the
ment by repeatedly "spout- defend itself from scurrilous ing had polluted the water. The judge overseeing the large sum in order to gener-
ing lies" about the compa- attacks. At one point, the company case has previously criti- ate headlines.q
ny in public. But Stark, who was de-
Kemble, a high-profile posed by the defendants'
fracking opponent who lawyers in January, was
has traveled the country largely unable to identify
talking about his experi- specific economic dam-
ences with the gas industry, ages suffered by Cabot
charges that Cabot is try- as a result of Kemble's
ing to shut him up. short-lived federal lawsuit.
The company, which has Kemble's suit had accused
drilled hundreds of wells in Cabot of polluting his water
the Marcellus Shale natu- supply anew.
ral gas formation, pulled Under questioning, Stark as-
out of a settlement confer- serted that Cabot's reputa-
ence scheduled for Friday tion was harmed by Kem-
because the parties have ble. But he added: "From
made "no progress" toward the standpoint of the on-
resolution, Cabot said in a going basis, I can't even as-
legal filing. certain what the damages
Kemble's former lawyers, in would be," according to a
turn, accused the driller of transcript.
failing to negotiate in good Documents filed as part of
faith, calling its withdrawal the case show that both
from talks "an indication sides are far apart in resolv-
that this action was not in- ing their differences.
tended to seek compensa- Kemble's former law firms
tory damages, but instead offered $50,000 to settle,
an attempt to harass, em- asserting that Cabot itself
barrass and annoy the de- could only substantiate
fendants." damages of $90,000 for le-
An email was sent to Cabot gal fees it incurred in 2017.
spokesman George Stark Cabot, in turn, offered to
on Thursday seeking com- settle for $3 million — the
ment on the case, which, limits of the law firms' mal-
for now, remains on a path practice insurance policies.
toward trial. Kemble's current lawyer
Kemble and others have has not offered a monetary
long accused Cabot of settlement, demanding
polluting their water sup- that Cabot dismiss Kemble
plies, a claim that formed from the case.
the basis of the Emmy- Cabot has been aggres-
winning 2010 documentary sive about pursuing its law-
"Gasland." State regulators suit, forcing Kemble's fellow
held Cabot responsible for activists to sit for depositions
polluting residential water and obtaining their bank
wells and banned it from records. In his deposition,