Pennsylvania plugs 100th orphaned and abandoned well in past 10 months

BURGETTSTOWN, Pa. (KDKA) -- One hundred orphaned and abandoned wells in Pennsylvania have been plugged in the past 10 months, more than in the past six years combined, Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Wednesday. 

The 100th well was plugged at Hillman State Park under an emergency contract with Yost Drilling after residents expressed concerns about the risk abandoned wells pose to public health and safety. 

More than 350,000 orphaned wells across the commonwealth make up nearly 8% of the state's total methane emissions, the governor's office said.

The executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, Amanda Leland, said these wells can leak methane and air toxics, contaminate water, create an explosion risk for nearby structures and reduce property values. 

Gov. Josh Shapiro said capping and plugging orphaned and abandoned wells improves public health and creates jobs, which is why he's directed the Department of Environmental Protection to draw down as much federal funding as possible for it. 

The governor's office said the Department of Environmental Protection has been using funding from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to inspect and inventory more wells and implement a new enforcement strategy. The act is expected to give the state more than $400 million in the coming years to cap and plug wells. 

The DEP said it's "aggressively" going after operators who are walking away from wells and coming in with emergency plugging contracts where needed. 

Because many wells in Pennsylvania were drilled before modern mapping and regulations, the DEP only had locations for about 30,000 wells. The governor's office said the state has for too long had inadequate resources to address the problem. 

The Shapiro administration said it is prioritizing environmental justice when deciding which wells to tackle, putting wells that impact disadvantaged communities at the top of the list.