On January 5, the Department of Environmental Protection released three more requests for bids to plug 46 conventional natural gas wells in Armstrong and Washington County through the website BidExpress.com.

These conventional wells are part of the next 198 orphan wells DEP plans to plug as part of the new federal Well Plugging Program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  DEP hopes to plug a total of 277 conventional wells with the first allocation of federal  funding.  Read more here.

In October, DEP released the first five invitations to bid under the program to plug 79 abandoned conventional oil and gas wells in Allegheny, Butler, McKean and Potter counties.  Read more here.

The new bid packages include--

-- Armstrong County: 15 orphan conventional natural gas wells in Boggs, Cowanshannock, Valley, and Wayne Townships.  Pre-bid meeting January 18.  Click Here for more information.

-- Armstrong County: 17 orphan conventional natural gas wells in Bethel, Kittanning, Manor, Gilpin, and South Buffalo Townships.  Pre-bid meeting January 19.  Click Here for more information.

--Washington County: 14 orphan conventional natural gas wells in Cecil, North Franklin, Buffalo, and Canton Townships.  Pre-bid meeting January 11.  Click Here for more information.

For more information on the federal well plugging program, visit DEP’s Oil & Gas Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Program webpage.

New Well Abandonments

On December 29, DEP issued a report on conventional oil and gas operator compliance saying the most frequent environmental, health and safety violation between 2017 and through 2021 was new oil and gas well abandonments.  Read more here.

The report said conventional oil and gas drillers were issued 3,123 notices of violations for new well abandonments and 217 violations for failure to plug a well to stop the vertical flow of fluids or gas out of the well.  Read more here.

Wells abandoned by conventional operators must be plugged at taxpayer expense.  By some estimates taxpayers are now on the hook for over $5.1 billion in conventional well plugging costs.  Read more here.

The report made a series of recommendations on how to prevent new well abandonments.  Read more here.

DEP Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 31 to Jan. 6  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - Jan. 7  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts 60 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In Jan. 7 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Oil & Gas Industry Compliance Reports:

-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Has Record Year: Cost, Criminal Convictions Up; $3.1 Million In Penalties Collected; Record Number Of Violations Issued; Major Compliance Issues Uncovered; Evidence Of Health Impacts Mounts

-- 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’

NewsClips This Week:

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: DEP Report: Conventional Oil & Gas Industry Fines Total $1.3 Million, Environmental Costs Of $1.8 Billion For Taxpayers 

-- Williamsport Sun: DEP Issued Thousands Of Violations To Conventional Oil & Gas Operators For Newly Abandoned Wells That Can Cost PA Taxpayers $1.8 Billion 

-- TribLive: DEP Report On Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Criticizes Industry For Abandoning Wells, Failing To Comply With Environmental Regulations

Related Articles This Week:

-- Guest Essay: Counties, PEMA Need To Include A Complete Vulnerability Assessment Of All Natural Gas Facilities In State, County Hazard Mitigation Emergency Plans - By Cat (Cathy) Lodge, Washington County Resident  [PaEN]

[Posted: January 5, 2023]

1/9/2023