A recent federal ruling in Pennsylvania, US, whereby Cabot Oil & Gas Co. was ordered to pay more than $4.2m in damages to two families for the alleged contamination of ground water, could have wide-reaching implications. The Dimock, northeastern Pennsylvania, families claim that Cabot contaminated their water with methane gas after the company began to carry out hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in 2008. More than 40 families sued the company over the last seven years, most of which settled with Cabot in 2012.
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