According to a report by the Associated Press, the much-publicized natural gas drilling and pollution case in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania is continuing to play in the courts.

A.P. says the case in Dimock, in Susquehanna County is “one of the best-known pollution cases ever to emerge from the U.S. drilling and fracking boom.”

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According to the report, the case now has entered a difficult new phase as prosecutors pursue criminal charges against Pennsylvania’s busiest gas driller, Cabot Oil & Gas.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office is pushing for a settlement they say could yield more significant benefits for affected homeowners than a conviction. But the option they recently discussed, water treatment systems, has put them at odds with some in the community of Dimock. They reject the filtration systems as inadequate and unworkable.

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The A.P. reports the residents objecting to the water treatment system proposal want to be hooked up to public water. But that’s also a controversial idea in their rural community where there is limited infrastructure to support a unified municipal system.

Cabot recently merged with a Denver-based company to form Coterra Energy Incorporated as it continued to face criminal charges.  The Associated Press reports that Cabot Oil & Gas on Friday, January 7 waived its right to a preliminary hearing on criminal charges that it acted with “long-term indifference” toward the residents of Dimock.

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