Pennsylvania just celebrated the plugging of its 300th orphaned oil or gas well. The state has been plugging these unaccounted for wells, which have been left behind by their owner and are no longer in service, for the past two years. They are being plugged thanks to federal infrastructure funds from the Department of Energy because they have the potential to leak methane―a potent climate pollutant with significantly more warming power than carbon dioxide―and toxic chemicals, like benzene, that put people’s health at risk.
Moms’ Pennsylvania Campaign Coordinator, Vanessa Lynch, was on hand to celebrate the milestone, attending the press conference with Governor Josh Shapiro and representatives from the Environmental Defense Fund, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the local drilling company doing the actual work of plugging wells and restoring well sites. If federal funding—which has bipartisan support—keeps flowing, the Shapiro administration could plug many more wells in coming years.
Tell Governor Shapiro: Pennsylvania Families Want a Strong Methane Plan
As told to Wendy Ramunno by Vanessa Lynch:
About 30,000 orphaned oil and gas wells have been located and documented in Pennsylvania, but it’s estimated that our state has 300,000 to 700,000 undocumented orphaned wells. This is by far the most of any state. A lot of them are old and unmarked—just a pipe or small apparatus sticking out of the ground. Many are on state lands, and they can also be near homes and schools, but we don’t know where they all are. We use federal funding to locate those orphaned wells and plug them. Moms Clean Air Force is urging the state to prioritize plugging the wells near places where children live, learn, and play.
The press conference last week with Governor Shapiro to celebrate the plugging of the 300th well in Pennsylvania was great because the drilling company, DEP, and some environmental organizations working on these wells were there. We have all been working together to protect the health and well-being of Pennsylvania residents. The wells are everywhere. The one they plugged during the press conference was in a little park right next to a shopping center and along a walking trail. It’s always eye-opening to see how close the wells are to homes and schools and people. We were able to see firsthand the methane bubbling in the pond nearby and get a close look at what plugging that well could accomplish.
The company that filled the 300th well is a small business owned by Pennsylvanians—which isn’t always true in the oil and gas industry here. So it’s nice that their jobs are all here in the state, and they’re providing family-sustaining income to actual Pennsylvanians.
What motivates my work for Moms in Pennsylvania is the fact that my family lives near an active fracked well [a well where hydraulic fracturing is used to extract natural gas, which is primarily methane, from shale rock formations] and there are numerous undocumented orphaned wells in Allegheny County, where I live. Orphaned wells all over the state and country can leak methane, and we know that methane contributes to our changing climate and extreme weather. In Pennsylvania, we’re particularly prone to tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease as well as flooding, and both are related to global warming. When my daughter was a brand new driver, she and her friend were once forced to turn back on their way to school because the roads were so flooded from a storm. It’s scary.
Plugging these orphaned wells is an important way to make progress on both air pollution and global warming. I’m happy that Governor Shapiro was able to get the well-plugging program up and running quickly. To keep working to protect families from oil and gas pollution, we need to ramp up this process even further and develop additional initiatives to locate undocumented wells and get them in the DEP database. I’m also hoping that Governor Shapiro and the DEP will create a strong plan to reduce methane emissions because we need strong climate action on methane pollution to protect the families living with oil and gas operations in their neighborhoods.
Tell Governor Shapiro: Pennsylvania Families Want a Strong Methane Plan