Mitchell Energy fights battle over natural gas-tainted water

DECATUR, Texas -- Pat Bartlett and oilman George Mitchell have never met, but they know each other well.

It was Bartlett, her husband, James, and her son by a previous marriage, Kelly Bryant, who first filed suit against Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. here in 1987, alleging the company's natural gas wells in Wise County had so contaminated the water under their home that it was at best unusable, and at worst a health hazard.

For 11 years, the family lived without running water. For a toilet, they used a five-gallon bucket. They hauled water from the small town of Boyd each day for drinking and cooking. They had sunk their life savings into the property and house and could not afford to move.

"It's been a long nightmare," Bartlett said.

There is no denying that the water in many of the water wells in rural Wise County, about 50 miles northwest of Fort Worth, contains natural gas and smells like rotten eggs. There also is no denying that a lot of people here are smelling something else: big money.

In late February, a Wise County jury awarded eight families, including the Bartletts, $4 million in actual damages and $200 million in punitive damages, agreeing with the families' claims that Mitchell Energy wells had leaked natural gas containing high levels of hydrogen sulfide -- often known as sour gas -- into their principal water supply source, the Trinity Aquifer.

Last week, a district judge refused to grant Mitchell's motion for a new trial. The dispute is now headed for the state Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.

Looming is an identical lawsuit, filed by 31 other plaintiffs, that seeks more damages against Mitchell Energy, based in The Woodlands just north of Houston. A trial date has not been set.

The plaintiffs say the fouled water has caused a variety of ailments, including fatigue, depression, dizziness, nausea, headaches and memory loss. Some claim the water may have led to gall bladder trouble.

But during the trial in January and February, neither the defense nor plaintiffs put a medical expert on the stand to address claims of health problems. One plaintiff, Bob Drury, testified that he never became sick, yet he received $12 million of the judgment.

"Nobody is dropping over dead here," said William Keffer, a Dallas attorney who acts as spokesman for the plaintiffs. "Many of these people are still drinking the water."

In a statement issued for this story, Mitchell said, "I certainly appreciate the opportunity to respond to the plaintiffs' charges. Up until now, I have bitten my lip.

"I have never believed, nor do I believe now, that Mitchell Energy Corp. is the cause of the problems that the plaintiffs are complaining about," he said.

The gas wells in question were drilled in the 1950s and 1960s. In many, the surface casing -- the protective pipe around the outside perimeter -- goes down about 300 feet; cement seals off the casing. A single production pipe goes down the center of the well. The plaintiffs contend the surface casing was not cemented deeply enough to protect the aquifer from production pipe leaks.

At the trial, the jury also found that Mitchell Energy had lied to the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas production in the state, about its leaky wells. Hence the large punitive award.

Sitting on the front porch of her new home on another site -- served by a community water system -- Bartlett said if she could talk to George Mitchell, she would tell him just one thing.

"I'd tell him, `Try living for just one week without running water, and see what it's like,'" said Bartlett, 59, whose family is entitled to about $13 million of the judgment.

It was a representative of the Texas Railroad Commission who first told the Bartletts to consider hiring an attorney about their water problems.

The family had asked the commission to inspect its freshly dug water well because it was emanating a foul odor.

Mitchell Energy has maintained that its wells in the area do not contain high levels of hydrogen sulfide but rather produce "sweet" odorless gas.

The company says bacterial contamination of some wells may have resulted in the presence of hydrogen sulfide.

The problem of natural gas in Wise County water wells occurred long before George Mitchell ever drilled a well there, said Jack O'Neill, lead attorney for Mitchell in the appeals process.

"These people in this area have had bad water for 50 years," O'Neill said.

Mitchell has had an up-and-down relationship with the people in Wise County since he bought 10,000 acres here in 1952 from a Chicago bookie and hit 13 good wells in a row, launching his career as an independent oilman. An estimated 25 percent of his company's oil and gas revenue comes from Wise County.

When times were good, he was considered a benefactor. But when things turned bad, he was seen as an exploitative interloper. Mitchell Energy laid off about 200 workers in the area two years ago, deepening the community's resentment against the company.

"A lot of people here feel their quality of life is dependent on George Mitchell, and he has been jerking them one way and then back the other," said Julie Porter, editorial page editor for the Wise County Messenger, Decatur's newspaper.

Bobby Wilson, Decatur's mayor, thinks the massive judgment has not had that much of an impact on his city of 4,200 residents, the county seat.

"I don't think that anybody outside the courthouse even knows about it," Wilson said.

Wall Street certainly knows about it.

The potential for further multimillion-dollar awards against the company has analysts watching the case with a wary eye. Still, most feel the existing judgment will be reduced eventually.

"I'll believe this judgment when cows fly over the moon," said John Olson, energy analyst with Merrill Lynch in Houston. "Mitchell should get some justice in the appeals courts."

Copyright 1996
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