Magic Water

"Gobblegobblegobble."

by Isaiah Thompson

The tube, about 10 feet tall and sticking out of the ground like a bird feeder from Mars, gobbled: It made a sound, that is, like turkeys gobbling — "Gobblegobblegobble!"

"Methane," explained Julie Sautner, pointing at it from in front of her house in Dimock, Pa., in the northeast corner of the state. "It bubbles."

Bubbling is only one of the magical properties the Sautners' well water has taken on since they first leased land to Texas-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale geologic formation two years ago. The water has also turned brown, tested positive for strange salts, metals and chemicals and started clogging things: "[Cabot] cut into a pipe that was less than a year old," says Craig Sautner, "and it looked like solid peanut butter in there."

This magical water, unfortunately, isn't much good for drinking.

Cabot, the Sautners say, denies any role in contaminating their well. Nonetheless, the company began supplying them with a giant vat of fresh water from elsewhere. It has to be refilled almost every day. Down the street, Jean and Ronald Carter tell a similar story: They leased their land to Cabot for drilling, and wound up with their own methane-emitting gobble-tube. Cabot again denies any role — but supplies them with water, too.

I met these families on April 12, as part of a "tour" of Dimock organized by a ragtag team of resident-activists who are calling for a moratorium on new drilling permits until more studies are done on its impact. To this end, they also invited Democratic gubernatorial hopeful (and underdog) Joe Hoeffel, the only candidate in the race who supports such a moratorium — and who has not taken campaign donations from drilling companies, unlike front-runner Dan Onorato.

Dimock is tiny, but busy these days: Helicopters fly overhead, taking underground measurements. Giant tanker trucks barrel up and down the small country roads. And problems — spills, fish kills, well contaminations — are cropping up, and with them, resistance.

The little town has become a vision of the future of the still-young Marcellus Shale gas industry in Pennsylvania. Dimock, you might say, has a message for us — for environmentalists, gas drillers, politicians, all of us here in Pennsylvania. Listen close, maybe you'll hear, too: "Gobblegobblegobble."