Court orders permanent injunction

BY STACI WILSON

A preliminary injunction barring a natural gas opponent and tour guide from a drilling company’s access roads, well sites and properties was made permanent with a court order handed down on May 1.

Susquehanna County Judge Kenneth Seamans found that Vera Scroggins had given her attorneys express authority to enter into a stipulated permanent injunction agreement with Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation last fall.

At that time, Scroggins was represented by attorneys Witold Walczak, director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania and Scott Michelman, of the Washington, D.C., advocacy group Public Citizen, both petitioned the court to withdraw as counsel for the Brackney resident when she changed her mind about the agreement.
At a hearing held in April the court both Walczak and Michelman testified that they believed Scroggins had agreed to the negotiated settlement when they notified Cabot’s attorneys.

Gerald Kinchy, who also represents Scroggins in the case, told the court his client had a “change of heart” after Cabot had been notified via email by Walczak of the agreement and refused to sign the document.

Cabot asked the court to have that settlement agreement accepted.

In October 2014, Cabot argued that the oral agreement was binding in Pennsylvania and that signatures on the agreement were not necessary.

According to the settlement order, Scroggins is prohibited from entering land that is owned by Cabot and/or GasSearch Drilling Services Corporation, and can not be on any of Cabot’s well pads or access roads, even at a landowner’s invitation.

Buffer zones around active operations were also established in the injunction agreement.

At the April 23 hearing, attorney Sheila Dugan asked the court to rehear arguments about the measurable buffer zones, arguing instead for “guidelines.”
Cabot attorney Amy Barrette responded to the court, “Guidelines don’t apply to her.”

The injunction sets a 100-foot buffer from the edge of a well pad if Cabot is engaged in active operations at the site, such as drilling, hydraulic fracturing, pad construction, and servicing.

On a public right-of-way, Scroggins is prohibited from parking her car within 100 feet of the entrance of any Cabot access road, unless it is on private property that she has been invited onto and the vehicle does not intrude on the public roadway or berm.

If on foot, Scroggins is not allowed within 25-feet of a Cabot access road, unless she’s off the opposite side of the public road and is not impeding any vehicles turning in or out of the access road.

She also must advise her tour group members at Cabot sites that it is illegal to block an access road.

If Scroggins violates the court order, she may be subject to civil contempt proceedings.

A preliminary injunction was brought against Scroggins by the drilling company in October 2013; it was modified in March 2014.

Since then, Scroggins has twice been held in contempt of the preliminary injunction.

A $1,000 fine was levied in April by Judge Seamans in a February contempt finding. She was given 45 days to pay the fine.

Scroggins has denied she violated the injunction and told reporters she refuses to pay the fine. She faces incarceration if the fine is not paid.

In the final provision of the stipulated permanent injunction, Scroggins waives the right to challenge and will not challenge or appeal the terms of the court order.

At the April hearing, Dugan had asked for more time to reach a settlement in the matter but the parties could not come to an agreement.