SCRANTON — A federal judge has denied a gas driller’s request to throw out a suit brought by northeastern Pennsylvania residents who claim drilling has contaminated their land and drinking water with methane and other chemicals.

Sixty-three residents of Dimock Township, Susquehanna County sued Texas-based Cabot Oil and Gas last year. The presence of methane led to the explosion of a water well.

Cabot filed a motion claiming drilling is similar to the operation of underground pipelines or storage tanks and therefore not an “abnormally dangerous” activity. If that were the case, the company claimed drilling would not meet the liability rules under which the residents sued.

A federal judge earlier this month declined to extend that standard to drilling.