MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — EQT Corp. will soon ask a judge to order six West Virginia property owners to plug and abandon a water well they dug to subvert the company's plans for five natural gas wells.
Pennsylvania-based EQT says U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey has scheduled a Nov. 12 hearing in Wheeling on its request for an injunction over activity at a 1,000-acre farm near West Union.
Under state law, gas companies can't drill within 250 feet of an existing water well or spring used for human consumption.
Landowner Charles Heaster told The Associated Press last month he plans to build a cabin and doesn't want EQT to destroy another 50 acres of his land. Heaster got the water well permit in April. EQT notified him of its intention to drill in August.