Medina County families say drilling is polluting their water wells

Medina County families say drilling is polluting their water wells by Alison Grant, March 13, 2012, Updated March 15, 2012, The Plain Dealer
Neighbors Mark and Sandra Mangan, and William and Stephanie Boggs, who live on State Road in Granger Township, said Landmark 4 LLC’sdrilling operation contaminated their private water wells, their houses and land with hazardous gases, chemicals and industrial wastes. The Mangans and Boggses said Landmark didn’t have sufficient cement casing on its wells and was negligent in training staff. In separate lawsuits filed against the company this week, the couples said their homes have lost value, they “live in constant fear of future physical illness,” and they pay for water samples and water from outside sources. “These acts and omissions allowed Defendant (Landmark) to save millions of dollars in costs they should have expended to properly contain and control the substances emanating from their facility,” the lawsuits said. … The Ohio Department of Natural Resources found no evidence that nearby drilling for natural gas had tainted the couples’ tap water. However, a recent report by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said drinking water problems at the Mangans’ and Boggs’ wells indeed were linked to gas drilling. But the agency said natural gas in the water wells could be from a previously abandoned gas well, not Landmark’s operation. The Granger Township families have hired prominent Cleveland attorney John Climaco, who tapped William Dubanevich of Parker Waichman in New York. Dubanevich specializes in lawsuits over water contamination. Climaco and Dubanevich said in a phone interview Tuesday that they could not discuss the couples’ medical concerns. “We will be meeting in the next couple of weeks with a number of other groups in various parts of Ohio who believe they are suffering from the same type of contamination,” Climaco said.

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