Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Tags Posts tagged with "orphan wells"

Tag: orphan wells

The new program offers grants up to $40,000 for wells 3,000 feet deep or less and up to $70,000 for wells deeper than 3,000 feet.

Representatives from the ODNR and Pennsylvania DEP, as well as plugging and environmental contractors, talked about the realities of plugging orphan wells during a panel at the Shale Insight Conference.

Dave McCallion has tried for nearly six years to get the leaking oil and gas well in his hay field fixed. The well seems to exist in a regulatory gray area.

Non-compliance is the norm for conventional well operators in Pennsylvania, and the DEP hasn't done much about it although they have the tools to, a new report shows.

The state is home to more than 20,000 orphan wells — oil and gas wells without a registered owner responsible for plugging it once its productive life is through. These wells can pose environmental, health and safety hazards to the people living around them. 

Work is beginning to plug a dozen abandoned oil and gas wells in Cornplanter State Forest, in Forest County, Pennsylvania, the DEP and DCNR announced April 7. Some of the wells are believed to date back to the 1920s.