PA Environment Digest Blog: Penn State Extension Adds McKean County Workshop To Promote $100/Well Bounty To Find Previously Unknown Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Abandoned By Their Owners; Workshops Set In Clarion, Crawford, Mercer Counties

The Penn State Extension will host a July 29 in-person workshop at the 4-H Building McKean County Fairgrounds, 7172 PA-46 in Smethport from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. to discuss the $100/well bounty available for reporting previously undocumented conventional oil and gas wells abandoned by their owners.

Click Here to register and for more information.

Three other workshops have also been scheduled--

-- Clarion County: July 23: Trinity Point Church of God, 180 West Trinity Drive, Clarion, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Click Here to register. ;

-- Crawford County: July 24: Crawford County Extension Office, 1099 Morgan Village Road, Suite A, Meadville, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Click Here to register.; and

-- Mercer County: July 28: Mercer County Extension Office, 463 North Perry Highway, Mercer, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Click Here to register.

At these workshops you will learn how to identify and report these often hidden hazards.

Discover what orphaned wells look like, why they matter, and how you can help protect your land and community.

Since the 1800s, more than 760,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania-- many without documentation or regulation.

Today, an estimated half a million orphaned and abandoned wells remain unaccounted for, posing serious risks to both people and the environment.

How It Works

After an individual reports an abandoned well, the landowner's address will be compared to the existing map of abandoned wells through DEP.

If the number of wells reported on the property comes back different, a time will be scheduled to come out with the landowner and visit the well site.

During this visit, a Penn State Extension Educator will take pictures of the well to document its condition, as well as GPS coordinates.

This information will be provided to DEP. After DEP is contacted, the landowner can schedule a time with DEP to visit the wells.

DEP will determine if the well needs to be plugged by a risk assessment based on the risk to human safety and the environment.

Wells with a greater risk will take priority over the lower-risk wells.

The program is funded by the Oil Region Alliance and is being implemented through a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, Penn State Extension and the Department of Environmental Protection.

$20,000 has been set aside to pay bounties by the Environmental Defense Fund.

For more information on the $100/well bounty, or how to report abandoned wells, please contact Dan Brockett, dlb14@psu.edu or Summer Boyle at sqw5805@psu.edu.

Visit the Penn State Extension website to learn more about many other educational opportunities.

Upcoming Event

-- July 23-- Penn State Extension Hosts Webinar On Understanding Pennsylvania's Legacy Conventional Oil & Gas Well Problem. Noon to 1:00 p.m.

Routine Well Abandonment

Conventional oil and gas wells continue to routinely be abandoned by well owners and there is no indication abandonment will stop anytime soon. So far in 2025, DEP has issued 281 notices of violation for conventional well abandonment and 58 violations for abandoning shale gas wells. Read more here.

DEP recently reported a project with Harrisburg University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania to identify previously unidentified oil and gas wells abandoned by conventional well owners has potentially found over 27,000 more abandoned wells-- double the number in the inventory DEP has for the federal well plugging program. Read more here.

Resource Links - Well Abandonment:

-- DEP: Widespread Non-Compliance With Environmental Laws Continues In Conventional Oil & Gas Industry; 3,108+ Abandoned Wells; At Least 85% Conventional Well Owners Fail To Submit Production, Waste, Well Integrity Reports [6.12.25]

-- DEP: 768 Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells May Be Plugged In Next Year; Over 27,000 New Abandoned Wells May Have Been Found; Alternatives To Well Plugging Bonds [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 7 to 27 - Finding 27,000 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Not Tracking Water/Wastewater Pipelines; Failure To Comply With DEP Orders; Inadvertent Pipeline Construction Returns - Again [PaEN]

-- House Committee Moves Bill To Restore Authority For Setting Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Bond Amounts To Help Protect Taxpayers From Billions In Plugging Costs; Republicans Oppose [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 28 to July 4 - 30+ Days Of Cleanup Continues At Shale Gas Pad; Failure To Comply With Plugging Order For 67 Months; Failure To Install E&S Controls For 68 Months [PaEN]

-- DEP: Active Wastewater Spill Remediation Efforts Have Continued For 30+ Days At The Seneca Resources Vandergrift Shale Gas Well Pad In Charleston Twp., Tioga County [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - July 5 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 65 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In July 5 PA Bulletin [PaEN]