According to a recent state legislative hearing, the state has seen 1,154 more oil and gas wells abandoned since 2020 while, over the past two and a half years, plugging only 308 abandoned wells.
This comes after the state received $76 million from the federal government to speed up the process of capping abandoned wells.
The 1,154 abandoned in that time represent just a fraction of the total unplugged wells across the state.
Reports from the Department of Environmental Protection estimate there are up to 560,000 of the wells statewide. The average cost to plug a well, per the DEP, was about $110,000 in 2024.
Obviously, money alone isn’t the only issue the state faces dealing with uncapped wells.
House Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Havertown, chair of the Environmental and Natural Resource Protection committee, has reintroduced a bill to give the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Quality Board the authority to set bonds for drillers that are closer to the cost of plugging a well.
The higher bonds would act as a deterrent and compensation for abandoning newer wells.
It’s not a bad idea, Companies drilling now should be required to cap wells before abandoning them so that the cost doesn’t fall back on taxpayers.
But simply increasing the bond requirements on oil and gas companies only slows the gap between new abandoned wells and the number of wells being capped.
Corporate responsibility alone won’t solve the orphaned wells problem in Pennsylvania.
State lawmakers and the Department of Environmental Protection need to come up with a plan to deal with orphaned wells.
The federal government’s $76 million of help is appreciated, but at the state’s current average cost of $110,000 to plug an abandoned well in 2024, Pennsylvania has a $61.6 billion problem on its hands.
The state can’t continue to lose ground as it deals with orphaned wells – and in our opinion that means the state is going to have to find additional resources to deal with orphaned wells and find a way to lower the average cost to plug an orphaned well.
New bond requirements only nibble around the edge of the orphaned well problem.
A bigger shift in state policy and procedure is needed.
NewsClip:
-- Warren Times Editorial: Need New Plan For Orphaned Wells
Resource Links - Abandoned Wells:
-- House Hearing: Let’s Work Together To Make Conventional Oil & Gas Industry Practices Cleaner, Respect Property Rights, Protect Taxpayers And Prevent New Abandoned Wells [4.24.23]
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]
Related Articles This Week:
-- Environmental Hearing Board Denies Request To End Appeal Of Catalyst Energy, Inc. Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permit In McKean County [PaEN]
-- CNX Resources Challenges Environmental Hearing Board Authority To Add Conditions To Permits For Shale Gas Wells At The Drakulic Well Pad In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County [PaEN]
-- Warren Times Editorial: Pennsylvania Needs A New Plan For Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; Increasing Bond Amounts Only Part Of Solution [PaEN]
-- 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 [PaEN]
-- Guest Essay: The Real Story Behind The Act 13 Shale Gas Drilling Impact Fee - It's Not Funding, It's Cleanup Money - By Mary Jo Simmen-Gray, Hempfield, Westmoreland County Resident [PaEN]
-- Environmental Integrity Project: DEP Made Changes To Permit For MarkWest Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant In Washington County To Reduce Air Emissions, Improve Accountability [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project To Launch Compounds Of Concern Online Tool During July 16 Webinar [PaEN]
-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Launches New Faith & Fossil Fuels Initiative; Invites Congregations, Individuals To Share Your Lived Experiences With Pollution [PaEN]
-- PUC Approves $750,000 Penalty Against UGI Utilities For 2020 Natural Gas Main Eruption In Monroe County Killing 1 Person [PaEN]
-- PUC Seeks $395,000 Penalty Against UGI Utilities For 2022 Natural Gas House Explosion In Suburban Harrisburg; $50,000 Penalty Against Contractor [PaEN]
-- PJM Interconnection Grid Operator Issues Hot Weather Alert For July 6 In Its Western Region, July 7 In Its Mid-Atlantic & Southern Regions, Including Areas In PA [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: Commonwealth Court Rules Elizabeth Twp., In Allegheny County Violated Its Own Zoning Ordinance To Allow Shale Gas Well Pad, Pipeline To Be Built In A Residential Area
-- Observer-Reporter: EQT Shale Gas Driller Sues Morgan Twp., Greene County In Federal Court Over Limits On Heavy Equipment Hauling On Local Roads To Prevent Damage [PDF of Article]
-- PennLive: PUC Files Complaints Against UGI, Plumber For 2022 Dauphin County House Explosion
-- MCall - Anthony Salamone: UGI Fined For Christmas Day 2020 Natural Gas Leak That Killed 1 Person
-- KYW: Deadly Explosion In Philadelphia’s Nicetown Neighborhood Could Be Natural Gas-Fueled, Source Says
-- Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader: Natural Gas Leak Results In Power Being Cut To Much Of Downtown Wilkes-Barre, Turning Off Street Lights Throughout The City
-- Spotlight PA: Costs Of Amazon’s $20 Billion Promise To Build Data Centers In PA Unknown: Impact On Electricity Supply, Power Costs To Consumers, Tax Revenue Forfeit
-- TribLive Guest Essay: Summer’s Triple Threat - Energy Bills Rising, Grids Straining, Help Shrinking - By Destenie Nock, Peoples Energy Analytics
-- Reuters: US Energy Firms Eye New Northeast Natural Gas Pipelines, Buoyed By President, Demand Outlook
-- Bloomberg: Electronic Warfare During Iran Strikes Crashes Global Shipping’s Navigation System, Including Oil, LNG Natural Gas Ships
[Posted: July 1, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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