PA Environment Digest Blog: Guest Essay: Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells Pose Hidden Threats To A.I. Data Center Development - A Proposed Site In Washington County Is Just One Example

By Marci Michalski, Burgettstown, Washington County

As hyperscale data centers and “off-the-grid” power generation facilities are planned and built across Pennsylvania, the state’s estimated 560,000 abandoned wells pose significant public-safety and environmental risks for people living near proposed development sites.

Abandoned oil and gas wells have been linked to explosions and contamination incidents across Pennsylvania, including an explosion that destroyed a home in McKean County; other reported explosions in McKean County and Westmoreland County; and methane and arsenic pollution in an aquifer in the Allegheny National Forest.

In Crescent Township, Allegheny County, a March 12, 2024 house explosion killed two people, and investigators pointed to a nearby unregistered natural gas well as a possible cause.

According to former Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Hess, roughly 350,000 conventional oil and gas wells were drilled in Pennsylvania before modern registration requirements existed, making it “nearly impossible to really identify all of them.”

Proposed Washington County Site

I used to work in the conventional oil and gas industry, and the risks are real.

Now, a hyperscale data center and “off-the-grid” power generation facility are being proposed near where I live in Hanover Township, Burgettstown, Pennsylvania.

Specifically, Prime Data Centers has applied for conditional use approval to build these facilities in the Starpointe Industrial Park, which is owned by Altian Development, LLC.

Prime Data Centers is based in Texas, and its “About” page states: “The world’s most pioneering businesses dare to dream big. We help them realize their vision by designing, developing and delivering adaptable data center infrastructure solutions that rise to every challenge.”

I attended the hearings for this project on June 18, 2026, and August 5, 2026.

I attended and spoke at the first meeting, identifying the issue of the abandoned wells on the site; no one had been aware of it.

Prime Data Centers submitted a geotechnical report, and while it should have identified these wells, it did not.

While it is not easy for non-industry people to find this information, applicants should include it in their applications.

The hearing on August 5, 2026 was continued to August 31, 2026 because there is a question of whether the Board of Supervisors can hear the application for the power generation facility given a conflict in the ordinance.

Finding Known Oil & Gas Well Locations

I use the Department of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas Mapping Tool to find known oil and gas well locations.

To find this information, there is a tab for “Oil and Gas Well Layer.” I scrolled down to well status, selected all, and hit submit. After that, in the same column, I selected “Search for Oil and Gas Wells.”

Then, I searched by county and municipality and chose Washington County and Hanover Township. Next, I selected “Get Wells.”

The tool then zooms to the specific area, and you can use the plus/minus buttons on the lower right-hand side to zoom in or out.

On the same screen, there is an “ESRI Streets and Imagery” option; however, you can use the slide bar to change the image layer.

There are several icons, including an “i” identify icon, which will provide specific information on the well you choose.

This information includes permit number, well name, operator, operator number, well type, well status, and other information, including latitude and longitude.

There is another slide bar that will display authorization documents, inspection reports, and other materials.

The maps I printed accompany this article.

The first map uses the “ESRI” imagery with the slide to the right, and the second map shows the same location with the slide to the left.

27 Known Oil & Gas Wells On Prime Data Center Site

My search revealed that there are 11 abandoned conventional oil and gas wells.

These wells are listed on the “DEP Abandoned List,” which means they have not been plugged and have been abandoned by the operator, leaving plugging obligations to us taxpayers.

On each of the above maps, these wells appear as light blue dots with a black “x” inside each circle.

I also identified 14 historic wells, which are legacy, orphan, or abandoned wells on old drilling sites created over the last 150-plus years before modern environmental and regulatory standards existed; many of these were found and mapped by coal miners.

These historic wells are shown as black triangles on each map.

The mapping tool is only as good as its sources, and there are likely hundreds of thousands of wells across Pennsylvania that have not been identified and mapped.

I also found 2 plugged oil and gas wells, which are shown on each map as darker blue symbols with a “+” sign.

The fact that these wells are plugged does not mean they were plugged properly.

If the wells were plugged before regulations in 1984, they need to be investigated, and the well records need to be reviewed to verify how they were plugged.

Wells plugged before regulation could be considered plugged, but not necessarily by today’s standards or for the life of the plugged well.

Finally, I found 1 active conventional oil and gas well, which is identified on each map as a bright solid blue dot.

Land subsidence from active and abandoned underground coal mines is also a known threat to development in Washington County and other coal mining areas in Pennsylvania, but I'll leave that for another day.

Complaint To DEP

On August 18, 2026, I submitted a complaint to the PA DEP’s Oil and Gas Division to locate and inspect the wells I identified.

I received a response from a PA DEP inspector on August 19, 2026, who said--

“The Dept has begun a search for the wells we believe are not buried under fill. We have in fact found several wells previously undocumented on the property.

“We will continue to search the areas we believe wells can be located above-ground.

“We are also looking into technology that could help locate the wells that may be buried.”

If you submit a complaint to the PA DEP, make sure you request the complaint number so that you may track PA DEP’s investigation.

Large-Scale Construction

The proposed data center and power generation facility will place large buildings, continuous electrical loads, and on-site power generation on land where abandoned, historic, plugged, and active oil and gas wells may be present, buried, undocumented, or improperly sealed.

The risks are not theoretical.

Abandoned and orphan wells can leak methane, allow gas migration, contaminate groundwater, and create public-health and safety hazards, including fire, explosion, blast risk, carcinogenic vapor exposure, aquifer pollution, foundation failure, and sinkhole formation.

DEP’s own legacy well materials state that abandoned and orphan wells pose risks to environmental and human health, including methane leaks, migration, and water contamination through its Legacy Wells Program.

Before any site like this could be considered safe for construction, every known and suspected well should be located, inspected, evaluated, and, where necessary, properly plugged under current standards-- not simply assumed safe because a map lists it as plugged or because surface equipment is no longer visible.

Once wells are located, DEP can perform field work such as slam bar testing and Bascom readings to determine whether methane is leaking from or around the well.

But that process becomes much harder when the ground has been graded, filled, or disturbed, because wells may be buried, obscured, or shifted from their mapped coordinates.

That is precisely why grading before a complete well investigation creates a serious problem for DEP’s Oil and Gas Division: the agency may be forced to search for hazards that have already been covered over.

Proper plugging should be followed by a documented post-plugging evaluation showing that the well is sealed, stable, and not leaking methane or other vapors.

Even then, the question is not simply whether a well has been plugged, but whether the entire proposed building footprint, utility corridor, stormwater system, and power generation area have been evaluated for remaining subsurface risk.

If wells cannot be located, if records are incomplete, if pre-1984 plugging cannot be verified, or if methane continues to migrate, the location should not be treated as safe for intensive development.

Failing to properly locate and plug these wells-- or failing to locate them at all—creates an unacceptable environmental and public-safety hazard.

Constructing a data center or power generation facility over abandoned or active wells could trap, concentrate, or redirect methane and other vapors beneath buildings, paved surfaces, foundations, or utility systems.

If those vapors accumulate and find an ignition source, the result could be catastrophic.

The proper response is a complete well-location, testing, plugging, and post-plugging verification process before development decisions are made—not after construction has begun.

Marci Michalski lives in Burgettstown, Washington County and previously worked in the conventional oil and gas industry and she can be contacted at marciski47@gmail.com.

(Maps: Maps of oil and wells on proposed site of Prime Data Centers planned development in Hanover Township, Washington County. Click Here for larger versions.)

Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Snapshot:

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper: DEP Considering ‘Alternative Enforcement Measures’ To Assure Cleanup Of Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment Plants In Lycoming, Bradford Counties [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 62: Contaminated Water Releases, Polluted Soil At Multiple Locations At Equitrans Water SVC [EQT] Richter Shale Gas Water Impoundment; Little Cleanup Happening In Greene County [PaEN]

-- DEP - Day 41: Remediation, Collection Of Contaminated Water Continues At Loan Asset Issuer Shale Gas Water Pipeline Release Site In Washington County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Diversified Production LLC Contaminated Water Pipeline Release Pollutes Farm Field In Indiana County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Routine Inspection Finds ‘Significant’ Release Of Contaminated Water From Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Pollutes Hillside In Warren County [PaEN]

-- DEP: Iron Cumberland LLC Conventional Well Plugging Results On Subsurface Release Of Cement Into Hargus Creek In Greene County [PaEN]

-- DEP: K Petroleum Inc. Shale Gas Well Site Had Contaminated Water Flowing Down The Side Of A Storage Tank In Washington County [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry, Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - August 22 [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On Air Permit For Montour CT Natural Gas Power Plant Expansion In Montour County To Feed Data Centers [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On Chapter 105 Permit For Expand Operating LLC Double, 16-Inch Shale Gas Water Pipelines In Fox Twp., Sullivan County [PaEN]