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DEP Releases 2 More Bid Solicitations To Plug 38 Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells In Venango County At Taxpayer Expense; Average Cost To Plug $95,000

On January 12, DEP released bid packages to plug 38 more abandoned conventional natural gas wells in Venango County at taxpayer expense under the new federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law well plugging program.

The official solicitations are made through the BidExpress.com website, like all major DEP contracts. The new packages include--

-- Venango County: 19 abandoned natural gas wells in Sugarcreek Borough and Cranberry Township. Click Here for more information.

-- Venango County: 19 abandoned natural gas wells in Cornplanter Township. Click Here for more information.

On January 5, DEP released bid packages for 46 conventional gas wells--

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

-- Armstrong County: 17 abandoned 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 abandoned conventional natural gas wells in Cecil, North Franklin, Buffalo, and Canton Townships. Pre-bid meeting January 11. Click Here for more information.

$95,000 Average Cost

On January 10, DEP Acting Secretary Ramex Ziadeh told DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council private contractors bid approximately $7.5 million to plug the first 79 abandoned conventional natural gas wells under the new federal program.

The average taxpayer cost of plugging those wells was a little over $95,000.

He said these wells were high priority wells to plug and the higher per well cost for plugging was based on individual site conditions.

Ziadeh said the second round of bid solicitations will total nine packages covering 157 wells in all with an expected cost to taxpayers of about $15 million.

He said if these solicitations come in under budget, DEP will use the remaining funding to help plug 38 more conventional wells in Cornplanter State Forest in Forest, Crawford and Warren counties.

Ziadeh said DEP has also been in discussions with Allegheny National Forest staff who expect to receive $660,000 in Bipartisans Infrastructure Law funding to plug an additional 18 abandoned wells at taxpayer expense.

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.

PA DEP Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Jan. 7 to 13 [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - Jan. 14 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 46 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In Jan. 14 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

PA 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’

Related Articles This Week:

-- DEP Ongoing Explosion/Fire Investigation: Energy Transfer Reported An Uncontrolled Release Of Ethane For 9.5 Hours From Its Revolution Natural Gas Processing Plant In Washington County [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Counties, PEMA Need To Include A Complete Vulnerability Assessment Of All Natural Gas Facilities In State, County Hazard Mitigation Emergency Plans [PaEN]

-- DEP Releases 2 More Bid Solicitations To Plug 38 Abandoned Conventional Gas Wells In Venango County At Taxpayer Expense; Average Cost To Plug $95,000 [PaEN]