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DEP Pursuing Federal Funding To Further Define Human Health Impacts Of Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells

On March 19, DEP advised the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board the agency is pursuing funding through the US Department of the Interior to get a “really good understanding” of some of the human health impacts of leaking, abandoned conventional oil and gas wells.

Interior administers the federal Abandoned Well Plugging Program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Kurt Klapkowski, DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, said in 2022 DEP worked with PSE Healthy Energy to conduct a study of 48 abandoned conventional wells in Western Pennsylvania and sampled the wells for hazardous air pollutants.

“There were some issues there in terms of the levels of especially benzene that we were seeing in some of these wells,” said Klapkowski. “So we felt like it might be important to try to put something like that together [a follow-up study].”

He said the results of the study were published in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Omega in May 2023.

“The discussions are at a very preliminary level at this point, but the Interior Department did confirm to us that as long as we did the study and it was intended to try to help us prioritize wells, particularly for those communities that are identified in the Infrastructure Act as disadvantaged or underserved and prioritizing well-plugging projects in those areas that we could go through a funding process to do that sort of work,” said Klapkowski.

“It's obviously something that's going to need a lot of conversation around with our partners at the Department of Health and others.

“But, I think that's something that I want to put on the table so that we have a really good understanding of some of these specific human health impacts that may be something that's caused by an improperly plugged or an unplugged abandoned well in close proximity to population areas,” said Klapkowski.

On June 6, 2023, Inside Climate News reported on the results of DEP’s study highlighting the wells were releasing benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, at air concentrations of 250 parts per million-- 250,000 times the California safety standard.

The study analyzed air samples for 27 different chemicals.

About one-fourth of the wells were located within 100 meters of buildings, including residences. Read more here.

“Having grown up in Washington County, some of these abandoned facilities were kind of like background noise there. I think that, my guess is, that most folks in Washington County probably live a lot closer to an abandoned well,” Klapkowski added.

“I do try to remind folks that these facilities, generally speaking, are not being maintained in the field. So even wells that aren't causing problems today, we do know that these facilities will continue to deteriorate,” said Klapkowski.

“And the potential for a future methane migration case and public health and safety issues, the potential for brine [wastewater] releases or hydrocarbon releases getting into the soils and the surface waters of the Commonwealth really does exist for all of these facilities,” explained Klapkowski.

For more information on Board activities, visit DEP’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board webpage. Questions should be directed to Todd Wallace, at twallace@pa.gov or (717) 783-6395.

Related Articles - Oil & Gas Health Impacts:

-- State Dept. Of Health Pushing For Changes To Reduce Adverse Health Impacts From Natural Gas Development [PaEN]

-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Studies Find Shale Gas Wells Can Make Asthma Worse; Children Have An Increased Chance Of Developing Lymphoma Cancer; Slightly Lower Birth Weights [PaEN]

-- State Dept. Of Health Apologizes For Not Listening To Communities Suffering Health Impacts From Shale Gas Development; New Health Study Results ‘Just The Tip Of The Iceberg’ [PaEN]

-- State Dept. Of Health Invites Citizens To File Environmental Health Complaints Related To Natural Gas Development; Health Will Also Review Environmental Test Results [PaEN]

-- 9th Compendium Of Studies On Health & Environmental Harms From Natural Gas Development Released - ‘The Rapidly Expanding Body Of Evidence Compiled Here Is Massive, Troubling And Cries Out For Decisive Action’ [PaEN]

-- House Committee Hearing On Increasing Safety Setbacks Zones Around Natural Gas Facilities Heard About First-Hand Citizen Experiences On Health Impacts, From Physicians On Health Studies And The Gas Industry On Job Impacts [PaEN]

-- Sen. Yaw, Republican Chair Of Senate Environmental Committee, Calls Bill To Reduce Shale Gas Industry Impacts On Health, Environment ‘Stupid’ [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - March 16 to 22 - Truck Rollover; 12 More Abandoned Wells; Failure To Submit Annual Reports; Another Chewed Wastewater Line Leaking [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - March 23 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 80 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In March 23 PA Bulletin [PaEN]