Update: Fayette County residents file lawsuit against several natural gas companies

Same offenders, same offenses, different county and day.

Twenty families have filed a lawsuit against some of the same old bad neighbor companies that turn up over and over and over: Midstream, Williams and etc, Chevron and Atlas.

The complaints are familiar.

• rusty leaking equipment
• bubbling around wellheads
• nuisances – noise, lights, litter, employees defecating and urinating on property, harassment and all the usual stuff.
• spills
• exposure to toxic substances
• etc. SOS

You can read a news article HERE and I’ll post a video below.

I’m wondering about NDAs here. Just suppose they decide to settle this case out of court–let’s hope they don’t–will they gag this county wide group of people? That’s going to take a lot of duck tape.

 

UPDATE: Bloomberg has an article about the lawsuit.
Chevron Among Drillers Facing Gas Wells Nuisance Lawsuit
By Sophia Pearson & Jim Efstathiou Jr. – Jun 7, 2013

The families say the companies’ activities have ruined the “quiet use and enjoyment” of their homes and caused emotional damages including anxiety and fear. The homeowners seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for the effects of toxic chemicals, noise and odor from nearby gas wells, according to a copy of a complaint provided by the families’ lawyers. It couldn’t immediately be verified in court records.
[…]
Since 2009, more than 35 lawsuits that allege fracking contaminated water have been filed in eight states, according to a Jan. 1 report from the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
In those cases, homeowners must rely on scientific evidence that may not be conclusive, according to Charlie Speer, whose Kansas City, Missouri-based law firm is handling the complaint. In a nuisance case, a jury is asked to consider the intrusion into people’s lives as a result of drilling.

I’m more than ready for a jury to hear some of these cases.