PA Environment Digest Blog: DEP Plugs Conventional Gas Well Orphaned By The Well Owner That Contaminated A Clarion County Family's Drinking Water Well; Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Continue To Abandoned Their Wells - 811 Violations So Far In 2024

On October 23, the Department of Environmental Protection began plugging a conventional gas well orphaned by the well owner that contaminated a family's drinking water well in Vowinckel, Clarion County.

“Orphaned and Abandoned wells present serious risks to the environment and public health by polluting groundwater and leaking methane into the atmosphere. This well site is an example of those impacts – where residents can’t drink their water because of this orphaned well,” said Acting DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “Thanks to the efforts of the Shapiro Administration, we finally have the resources to address wells like these that are affecting peoples’ lives.”

This gas well is located just six feet away from the family’s potable water well – and the DEP had confirmed iron from the gas well was getting into the water well.

The water well, which was this family’s only source of drinking water, had been unusable for five months and they had to provide their own water.

With no access to public water, the DEP began providing a temporary water supply throughout the course of the plugging process.

The Shapiro Administration has been dedicated to maximizing every opportunity to plug orphan and abandoned wells in Pennsylvania, successfully plugging over 270 wells so far — more than in the previous 10 years combined using new federal funding.

The Department of Interior recently awarded Pennsylvania another $76 million to address the plugging of orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells.

The $76 million is the first round of Formula Grant funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which could provide up to $300 million over the next three to five years; advancing ongoing efforts to protect public health, reducing methane emissions that contribute to climate change, and creating good-paying Pennsylvania jobs.

DEP has identified over 27,000 orphaned and abandoned wells and is prioritizing those posing the highest risks. New plugging contracts will focus on these high-priority wells, along with nearby wells, to maximize efficiency and preempt environmental threats.

Plugging wells can vary in cost based on several factors. Age, depth and location all contribute to rising costs to plug a well.

Conditions, such as the ones found in this particularly aged well, are a perfect example of how a troublesome well can add time and money to a plugging project.

In 2024, the average cost to plug wells under the initial Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Grant was just over $105,000.

Visit DEP’s Rewriting Pennsylvania’s Abandoned Oil & Gas Well Legacy webpage for more information on this program.

Click Here for DEP’s complete announcement.

Oil & Gas Wells Continue To Be Abandoned

So far in 2024, DEP issued 814 new or continued violations to conventional oil and gas well owners for abandoning and not plugging their wells, more than double the violations issued in 2019. Read more here.

So far in 2024, 26 violations were issued or continued to 10 shale gas well owners [Diversified Prod LLC; Big Dog Energy LLC follow-up; Big Dog Energy LLC; EQT Production Co.; Diversified Prod LLC; Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, Atlas Resources, LLC; Atlas Resources, LLC (follow-up inspection)’ Repsol Oil & Gas, EQT Chap LLC; M4 Energy; M4 Energy (follow-up inspection); EQT (Rice Drilling B LLC); and Roulette Oil & Gas LLC; Roulette Oil & Gas LLC (follow-up inspection)] for abandoning wells and not plugging wells.

2 New Well Plugging Grant Programs

On October 2, the Department of Environmental Protection announced it will begin accepting applications on October 9 for grants to plug orphan conventional oil and gas wells abandoned by their owners.

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

The grants will be available to qualified well pluggers for orphan wells, which are wells that were abandoned by conventional oil and gas well owners before April 18, 1985. Read more here.

Visit DEP’s Orphan Well Plugging Grant Program webpage for more information.

On October 12, the Department of Environmental Protection published notice it will begin accepting applications on October 16 for the new Methane Reduction Grants Program to plug marginally producing conventional oil and gas wells. The deadline for applications is December 11. (formal notice)

Pennsylvania has $44.4 million available from the federal Inflation Reduction Act to provide grants to plug conventional wells.

This grant program is separate from the grant program announced October 2 to plug orphan conventional oil and gas wells abandoned by their owners. Read more here.

The new Methane Reduction Program includes two types of grants.

The MERP Small Operator Assistance Grant is available to operators with ten or fewer wells, qualified well pluggers or third parties.

The MERP General Assistance Grant is designed for operators with 11 or more wells, qualified well pluggers or third parties.

Qualified conventional wells under this program are wells that produces less than 90 mcf gas per day or 15 barrels of oil per day. Read more here.

Visit DEP’s Methane Emission Reduction Grant Program webpage for more information.

NewsClips:

-- ExploreClarion.com: DEP Plugs Conventional Gas Well That Contaminated Vowinckel Family’s Drinking Water In Clarion County

-- NPR: States Work To Track Down, Cap Dangerous Methane Leaks From Conventional Oil, Gas Wells Abandoned By Their Owners [Allegheny National Forest, PA]

Resource Links:

-- Exploding Water Well Shed Triggers DEP Investigation Of 59+ Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells In Cyclone, McKean County; Highlights Limits On Providing Temporary Water For Well Owners Impacted [PaEN]

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’ [PaEN]

-- House Hearing: Let’s Work Together To Make Conventional Oil & Gas Industry Practices Cleaner, Respect Property Rights, Protect Taxpayers And Prevent New Abandoned Wells [PaEN]