A new report by Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection says conventional oil and gas drillers improperly abandoned thousands of additional wells here between 2017 and 2021 — often with impunity.

Abandoned wells leak the greenhouse gas methane, which contributes to climate change, and drillers are required to report and plug them. 

Otherwise it falls to the state, "the plugger of last resort," which already has an estimated 200,000 wells to close at an average cost of $30,000 a piece.

"The industry's recent record of compliance is troubling and requires DEP's Office of Oil and Gas Management to explore new techniques for deterring violations and encouraging compliance," the report says. 

A representative for the conventional oil and gas industry, an older form of extraction that differs from deep-well fracking, disputes the findings but declined to offer specifics when reached by StateImpact.

Read the full write-up: Pa. drillers abandoned thousands of natural gas wells in 5 years, ignored state law, report says.
 
THE CONTEXT: The DEP's report was ordered by then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, amid a dispute with lawmakers over a bill impacting how millions of dollars in federal well-plugging aid would be spent.

It's not clear whether the report will change anything, StateImpact notes. Gov. Josh Shapiro's office has yet to comment. 

In 2020, Shapiro, then the state's attorney general, proposed changes to protect Pennsylvanians from the negative impacts of energy production — upfront chemical disclosures and expanded buffer zones among them.

Now that he's governor, the Democrat's energy agenda is still coming into focus; but environmentalists want him to take action, starting with his own recommendations from several years ago, via Capital & Main.

The DEP's abandoned-well report ties a lack of consequences for industry violators to the department's lack of resources.

It's the same dearth that prompted former DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell to issue a warning of sorts to his likely successor.

A stellar view from the River of Rocks Overlook at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County, via Don N. Send us your photos by email, use #PAGems on Instagram, or tag us @spotlightpennsylvania.

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