Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Monday announced that a state grand jury has charged Cabot Oil & Gas in connection with 15 environmental crimes in northeast Pennsylvania, Kallanish Energy reports.
The company was charged with seven counts of prohibition against discharge of industrial wastes, seven counts of prohibition against other pollutions, and one count of unlawful conduct under the state’s Clean Streams Law.
The violations took place in Susquehanna County in northeast Pennsylvania, Shapiro said in a statement.
The state grand jury had charged Range Resources with five violations on environmental laws in a similar announcement released last Friday.
The charges are part of a continuing two-year investigation into environmental crimes committed by oil and natural gas companies in Pennsylvania, officials said.
The grand jury investigation into the contamination of well water in Dimick, Pennsylvania, revealed that Cabot’s fracking activities were responsible for methane pollution in the local water supply in Susquehanna County, Shapiro said.
“The grand jury presentations prove that Cabot took shortcuts that broke the law and damaged our environment, harming our water supply and public health,” he said. “They put their bottom line ahead of the health and safety of Pennsylvanians. The grand jury repeatedly found evidence of a company that placed profit over our laws.”
Shapiro described the grand jury investigation as a long process to hold O&G companies accountable for environmental problems. In Pennsylvania.
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