Gas at a glance

• CABOT FINED NEARLY $5,000 FOR DIESEL SPILL IN DIMOCK

Cabot Oil & Gas of Houston, TX has paid $4,000 dollars in civil penalties and nearly $1,000 in emergency response costs related to an 800-gallon diesel spill that occurred in Dimock, Pennsylvania last spring on a property where natural gas drilling is occurring.

PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials required Cabot to clean up the spill last year, and are currently awaiting final test results from the site. Cabot operates multiple drilling rigs in Dimock Township.

The DEP and Cabot are currently investigating the contamination of an aquifer that supplies water to residents in the Carter Road area to determine how methane migrated into that aquifer

• GAS DRILLING WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITIES CONSIDERED IN TWO PA TOWNS

Water Treatment Solutions, LLC, based in Williamsport, PA, is evaluating the development of wastewater treatment facilities in Waverly and Williamsport, PA. Brine water from drilling operations in New York and Pennsylvania would be trucked to the facilities for removal of contaminants and the sale of byproducts such as road salt

•DRILLING COMPANY NIXES GAS LEASES TOTALING $31 MILLION

A natural gas exploration company has told Pennsylvania state officials that it will not sign leases worth $31 million for the right to drill on state forestland. The move is seen as more budget troubles for Governor Edward Rendell. Chris Noval, a spokeswoman for the state forests department, said that she did not know why Houston-based Seneca Resources Corporation made the decision.

The action would appear to coincide with news that the price of natural gas has plummeted since the forest service auctioned the leases, chilling exploration activity across much of the nation.

The company, a subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Co. of Williamville, NY, is active on two other state forest leases on which it bid successfully last year.

According to the Associated Press, winning bids from Seneca, petroleum giant ExxonMobil Corp. and three other companies totaled $190 million for the state. Under current law, the money would go toward the improvement of Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests but Rendell announced plans in December to take $174 million of the money to help fill a shortfall in the state’s budget.