Gas driller backs off demand to have man thrown in jail

Source: Associated Press

Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press
Updated 12:47 pm CST, Monday, February 4, 2019

MONTROSE, Pa. (AP) — A gas driller backed off its demand Monday to have a Pennsylvania homeowner thrown in jail after he agreed to talk to the company's lawyers next month.

Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. contends Dimock resident Ray Kemble and his former lawyers tried to extort the company through a frivolous federal lawsuit. Cabot also claims Kemble violated a 2012 settlement agreement by speaking ill about the company. Cabot is suing the law firm and Kemble for $5 million.

The company had sought jail time for Kemble after he didn't show up for a deposition. Kemble, who appeared in court Monday using a walker and stood for the duration of the hearing, said he is unable to sit for long periods after cancer surgery. Cabot agreed to give Kemble time to recover, and the deposition was rescheduled for March.

Kemble and others have long accused Cabot of polluting their water supplies, a claim that formed the basis of the Emmy-winning 2010 documentary "Gasland." State regulators held Cabot responsible for polluting residential water wells and banned it from drilling in a 9-square-mile (23-square-kilometer) area of Dimock, a rural community 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.


Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Gas-driller-backs-off-demand-to-have-man-thrown-13587437.php