CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

DIMOCK, Pa. - More than a dozen families have filed suit against one of the nation's largest natural gas drillers after the company polluted their water wells in northeastern Pennsylvania.

State environmental regulators fined Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. for allowing gas to escape into groundwater supplies in rural Susquehanna County near the New York border. The Department of Environmental Protection says 13 wells were polluted.

Cabot agreed earlier this month to take steps to prevent a recurrence. The company also promised to restore or replace the affected water supplies.

The problem was discovered Jan. 1 when a well exploded at a home near Cabot's operations.

Cabot is among a slew of exploration companies that are drilling in the potentially lucrative Marcellus Shale formation.