HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — State environmental regulators are imposing fines against Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. after the gas-exploration company reported three chemical spills in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The Department of Environmental Protection said Thursday that Cabot is being fined $56,650 for violating the Clean Streams Law, Solid Waste Management Act and Oil and Gas Act.
Last week, the department allowed the Houston-based company to resume a drilling technique that uses liquids to fracture rock and release natural gas.
It said the company had improved its accident-prevention plans.
The department halted Cabot's so-called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," operations last month after Cabot reported three spills of a liquid-gel lubricant within seven days at one of its gas-drilling sites.
The spills polluted a wetland and creek in Susquehanna County.