On July 10, the US Department of the Interior announced Pennsylvania is eligible to apply for $76,406,474 in Phase I federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act formula grants to plug abandoned conventional oil and gas wells.

The state has until December 31, 2023 to apply for these funds. 

Pennsylvania is eligible for a total of $305,625,896 in funding under the formula grant program over the life of the program, according to the announcement.

Under the first $25 million federal grant, DEP has plugging contracts covering 227 conventional wells and finished plugging 44, according to DEP’s Plugging Dashboard.

In Pennsylvania, conventional oil and gas operators continue to routinely abandon between 400 and 600 wells a year.  DEP calls this the most significant compliance problem they have with the conventional industry.  Read more here.

The Environmental Defense Fund reported in April Pennsylvania has 55,000 conventional oil and gas wells at high risk of being abandoned and another 51,000 at risk of being transferred to low solvency owners.  Read more here.

In July 2022, the General Assembly passed and Gov. Wolf signed into law Act 96 that prohibits DEP from increasing the well plugging bonding amounts for 10 years.  Bonding is one tool Pennsylvania could have used to help stem the tied of new well abandonments.  Read more here.

The Environmental Quality Board, which adopts DEP’s regulations, is set to meet Tuesday, July 11 on a rulemaking petition environmental groups submitted before the new law was passed to increase bonding amounts.  Read more here.

To learn more about the federal well plugging program in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act webpage.

NewsClips:

-- Public News Service: Report: Oil And Gas Air Pollution Effects On Health Of Pennsylvanians 

-- TribLive: Protect PT Seeks Support For Proposed Ordinance Regulating Shale Gas Wells In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County; Meeting July 13

-- Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund: The Law Did Not Save Grant Township’s Water From PA General Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well, The People Of Grant Did

-- StateImpactPA - Susan Phillips: New Sinkhole Forms [Again] Along Mariner East Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline In Chester County

-- Independent Fiscal Office Reports PA Natural Gas Production Peaked In 4th Quarter 2021 [PaEN]

-- US Energy Information Administration: 2022 Appalachian Natural Gas Production Flat With Productivity Declines In Key Counties In PA

-- Bloomberg: Sweet Spot For Building New US LNG Natural Gas Projects Is Fading

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Have Biggest Weekly Loss Of The Year

-- Bloomberg: European Power Prices Fall Below Zero This Weekend With Green Power Boom 

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 8 to 14; Failed Shale Gas, Conventional Well Plugging; Leaking Conventional Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - July 15  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Risk Assessment Did Not Prove Chemicals Polluting Soil & Groundwater At American Refinery Group’s Bradford Petroleum Refinery Met Safe Environmental Cleanup Standards  [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On CNX Midstream Project To Expose Natural Gas, Water/Wastewater Pipelines To Prevent Longwall Coal Mining Damage In Greene County  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 60 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In July 15 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- DEP Secretary Negrin To Citizen Activists: ‘We Don’t Represent Chevron, We Don’t Represent Shell And I’ve Made That Absolutely Clear-- We’re Holding Those Leaders Accountable’  [PaEN]

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Do Oil & Gas Drillers Owe Taxpayers Royalties For Oil & Gas Under Roads, Streets, Bridges And Other Taxpayer-Owned Land?  [PaEN]

-- EQB No Longer Has Statutory Authority To Change Conventional Oil & Gas Well Bonding Amounts To Help Prevent 400 to 600 New Well Abandonments A Year; Adopts Proposed Changes To Water Quality Standards For Comment  [PaEN]

-- PA Eligible To Apply For $76.4 Million In Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Funding To Plug Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; Conventional Operators Still Abandoning Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts Draft Final Chapter 105 Environmental Assessment Alternatives Analysis; Will Discuss At Agricultural Advisory Board Meeting July 18  [PaEN]

-- DEP Announces July 13 Local Steering Committee Meeting For $5 Million Shell Petrochemical Plant Community Fund  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reminder Of July 25 Hearing On Proposed Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Clara Twp., Potter County

-- MethaneSAT-EDF Successfully Test Methane Detection Technology To Be Used To Document Methane Emissions From Onshore Natural Gas Production In North America  [PaEN]

-- DEP Blog: Do You Know What’s Below? Gasoline Stations And Aging Underground Storage Tanks In Pennsylvania [PaEN]

[Posted: July 10, 2023]

7/17/2023