Over a decade ago, a small town in northwest Pennsylvania became the focal point for the anti-fracking movement. Soon after Cabot Oil & Gas (now owned by Coterra) came to Dimock, residents noticed that their water had turned brown from contamination and was no longer safe to drink. The fracking company denied responsibility, and state and federal regulators did little to help residents.
Finally, after 14 years of grassroots organizing, some justice came to those affected by this fracking nightmare.
Last week, Coterra pleaded no contest in Susquehanna County Court for contaminating the water in Dimock. The company will now pay $16.2 million for the construction of water infrastructure for the affected residents and pay their water bills for the next 75 years. Although this is very far from what the residents deserve, it is some relief for residents who haven’t had safe drinking water for over a decade.
This case was one of the earliest examples of water contamination from fracking. Dimock residents began sounding the alarm about the dangers of fracking in Pennsylvania and across the country.
Not so long ago, the consensus was that fracking was the bridge to a renewable future. Food & Water Watch looked at the science and listened to our grassroots partners. We saw that fracking endangered lives and communities. It directly threatened people's air, water, health and climate. That’s why we became the first national organization to launch a campaign calling for a complete ban on fracking and all the dirty infrastructure that supports it.
As the climate crisis becomes more urgent, views about fracking have changed. The evidence of fracking’s threats to communities and climate stability is clear. Too many communities around the country continue to suffer harms from fracking and drilling in their neighborhoods. We must fight to ban fracking once and for all.
Food & Water Watch and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Action, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate.
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