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Gov. Shapiro: We Need Stronger Laws To Deal With The ‘Corporate Greed’ That Let Oil & Gas Operators Get Away With Abandoning Wells For Far Too Long

At the October 18 event marking the plugging of the 100th conventional oil and gas well this year, Gov. Josh Shapiro made some strong statements about the ‘corporate greed’ that left communities and taxpayers holding the bag for these wells.

“The story is far too familiar for the people of Pennsylvania.

“A company that rolled into town with big promises, then rolled right back out as soon as the money dried up, leaving the local community left to hold the bag, to clean up the mess that they left behind.

“Today, Pennsylvania is now facing the consequences of this corporate greed, of this legacy, of an industry that made a buck off of our natural resources and got away with abandoning gas wells without properly plugging them.

“It's estimated that there are more than 350,000 wells like this one across our Commonwealth, orphaned and abandoned.

“We are fighting back against this legacy of corporate greed I mentioned before, of an industry that just simply got away with abandoning wells for far too long.

“My administration is holding companies that walk away from unplugged wells accountable.

“I've directed the Department of Environmental Protection to take any and all necessary enforcement actions against these companies to be able to recover what we can from them to support this important work.

“We will aggressively pursue these operators that abandon their responsibilities and do our best to make sure they pay what they owe.

“Taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill just because a company thought it could get away with cutting corners, whether that's taxpayers at the federal level or state level.

“It should be the corporate greedy folks who are held accountable, not the taxpayers.”

Stronger State Laws Needed

In response to a question from the media, Gov. Shapiro said this on the need for stronger state environmental laws--

“I'd like to see our state laws be much stronger when it comes to being able to tackle pollution and contamination left behind by greedy executives.

“Look, I was Attorney General for six years prior to being governor, I haven't met too many greedy corporate executives who are happy to pay up, but I'm pretty damn dogged.

“We will go after them and we will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

“You are correct in identifying the fact that our laws could be strengthened, that the dollars required when industry comes in for bonding and what have you, should be increased and we need to do a better job going forward in Pennsylvania to hold polluters accountable and to make sure that that imbalance that exists between the power of corporations and the power of the people gets rebalanced.

“That's something I've focused on throughout my whole career, and I'm going to continue to do that work as governor.”

Click Here to watch a video of the event.

Related Article - Abandoning Wells:

-- 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’ [12.29.22]

-- Gov. Shapiro Marks Plugging 100th Conventional Oil & Gas Well In 10 Months; New Initiative Allows Texting Abandoned Well Photos/Locations To Governor That Need Plugging [PaEN]

-- Inside Climate News: Gov. Shapiro Provides Fresh Support To Key Changes Recommended In 2020 Grand Jury Report To Tighten Regulation Of The Natural Gas Drilling Industry To Better Protect Public Health, Environment [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - October 14 to 20 - 6 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Conventional Gas Migration Incident; Inactive Shale Gas Wells [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - October 21 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 62 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In October 21 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- 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]