PA Environment Digest Blog: Clean Air Council, FracTracker Sept. 28 Webinar Updates Public On Efforts To Reduce Methane, Other Air Pollution From Oil & Gas Industry Infrastructure

The Clean Air Council is partnering with the FracTracker Alliance to update you on recent efforts to reduce methane, and other air pollution, from the oil and gas extraction industry during a September 28 webinar at 2:00 p.m.

Hear about several new developments that will significantly impact residents who live in gas extraction areas across the country.

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prepares to finalize methane pollution standards for new and existing oil and gas facilities it is vital that we understand how that rule is connected to other current state and federal actions.

Clean Air Council’s new Policy Advocate Alice Lu will discuss the EPA’s new standards for reporting methane pollution from the oil and gas industry, and how funds collected based on these emissions could fund the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) passed within the federal Inflation Reduction Act.

You will also hear from Clean Air Council’s Russell Zerbo about a new federal funding opportunity for Pennsylvania to support the plugging of small, but functioning gas wells. If these wells aren’t properly plugged, they are at risk of being abandoned, adding to the hundreds of thousands of orphan and abandoned wells in Pennsylvania.

FracTracker Western Program Director Kyle Ferrar, MPH will discuss efforts in California to increase well-bonding costs for small wells that could be abandoned.

Increasing the bonds required to purchase small wells, that create large amounts of air pollutants, ensures that governments have funds on hand to plug wells if they are abandoned by their owners.

Recently, the Pennsylvania legislature froze well bonds for conventional wells at $2,500 while the Department of Environmental Protection estimates that the average well-plugging costs $33,000. [Read more here.]

FracTracker Executive Director Shannon Smith will speak to efforts across the country to address numerous orphaned and abandoned gas and oil wells in various individual states.

DEP released a report last year detailing that inspectors found more than 3,000 newly-abandoned wells over a recent 5-year period. [Read more here.] DEP has also documented over 25,000 abandoned wells in the state.

Click Here to register and for more information.

(Photo: Methane leaking from Diversified Prod. Co. conventional gas well in Allegheny County, and video of methane leaks from Equitrans Steelhead natural gas compressor station in Washington County courtesy of Earthworks.)

Resource Link:

-- DEP Adopted Regulations Setting Emission Limits On Both Shale Gas and Conventional Oil & Gas Well Operations In April

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Sept. 16 to 22 - 2nd Abandoned Shale Gas Well Pad? 5 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Failure To Comply With Order [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues NOVs To Roulette Oil & Gas LLC For Abandoning Another Conventional Well In Potter County; Roulette Applying For Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permit [PaEN]

-- Petro Erie, Inc. Appeals 2nd DEP Order Requiring The Operator To Restore The Village Of Reno’s Water Supply Contaminated By A Spill Of Conventional Oil Well Wastewater In Venango County [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - September 23 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 73 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In September 23 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Senators To Introduce Bill To Increase Setbacks On Gas Drilling

-- Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition Lobbyist Responds To Health Concerns Raised In Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial - ‘Fracking Is Making Pennsylvanians Sick, Lawmakers Must Act’

-- Tribune-Democrat Guest Editorial: Natural Gas Development Making Pennsylvanians Sick, Lawmakers Must Act