On March 25, DEP said 89% of conventional oil and gas well owners failed to comply with the most basic requirement of the state Oil and Gas Act-- submitting a 2023 annual well integrity report for each of the wells they own to assure they are not contaminating groundwater, surface water or venting gas into the atmosphere.

These 4,359 owners own 34,455 wells-- 34% of the conventional wells required to file these reports.

These comments were made by Kurt Klapkowski, DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management, before the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, at a March 25 hearing on well abandonment.

[Note:  Because of this massive failure to report, DEP has no idea if any or all of these wells are ticking environmental bombs waiting to blow-- literally.

[No other industry is more incapable of managing its own facilities and complying with its legal responsibilities to operate its facilities than conventional oil and gas well owners.]

Klapkowski summed up the conventional industry’s non-compliance this way--

“Unfortunately, reviewing inspection and compliance data developed since 2017, DEP has identified widespread non-compliance with laws and regulations in the conventional oil and gas industry, particularly regarding improper abandonment of oil and gas wells but also not reporting hydrocarbon and waste production and conducting mechanical integrity assessments.”

Heading For Record Violations - Again

So far in 2024, DEP issued conventional well owners 2,217 violations of all types, heading toward a new record for breaking the law.

In 2023, DEP issued a record 6,860 violations.  Read more here.

The culture of non-compliance DEP noted in a 2022 report on conventional oil and gas owners compliance very much continues unabated.  Read more here.

Click Here for a video of the Committee hearing.

Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) serves as Majority Chair of the House Environmental Committee and can be contacted by calling 717-787-7647 or sending email to: gvitali@pahouse.net. Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron) serves as Minority Chair and can be contacted by calling 717-787-5075 or by sending email to: mcauser@pahousegop.com.

Previous Articles:

-- 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’  [PaEN]

-- Spring Road Dumping Season Underway As Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Get Rid Of Their Wastewater   [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - March 23 to 29 - Plugging Abandoned Shale Gas Wells, Waste Injection Wells; Failure To Stop Gas Venting  [PaEN] 

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - March 30 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 81 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In March 30 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

Related Articles This Week - Energy:

-- DEP: 86% Of Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Did Not Comply With Waste Disposal, Production Reporting For 33,505 Wells In 2023  [PaEN]

-- DEP: 89% Of Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Did Not Comply With Well Integrity Reporting For 34,455 Wells In 2023  [PaEN]

-- Republican Rep. Causer Blames DEP Database For Showing Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Abandoning, Not Plugging Their Wells; Industry Wants To Redefine Well Owner Responsibility For Abandoned Wells  [PaEN]

-- Spring Road Dumping Season Underway As Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Get Rid Of Their Wastewater   [PaEN]

-- CFA Awards Over $1 Million In Grants To Extend Natural Gas Service In Susquehanna, Warren Counties [PaEN]

-- Residents Express Concerns At US DOE's Listening Session On ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub Proposal In PA, WV, OH  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Air Quality Permits For Keystone, Conemaugh, Homer City Coal-Fired Power Plants Including Previously Announced Shutdown Dates  [PaEN]

-- PUC Invites Comments On Proposed Regulation On Use Of Distributed Energy Resources And Virtual Power Plants  [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Scrutinized For Cost Inflation, Bad Data

-- TribLive: Murrysville Abandoned Conventional Gas Well To Be Plugged; State Officials Assessing 10s Of Thousands More

-- PA Capital-Star: Cong. Lee Highlights PA’s Abandoned, Unplugged Conventional Oil & Gas Well Problem

-- The Energy Age Blog: Fracking Cecil Township In Washington County

-- PA Business Report: Energy Groups Opposed Methane Fee Rule Required By Federal Law

-- Bloomberg: Chesapeake Energy Stockpiling New Gas Wells To Await Higher Prices

-- Times Leader: Ohio Attorney General Charges PA Company Austin Master Services With Storing Excessive Quantities Of Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater, Threatening Ohio River

-- PA Business Report: PA House Republican Bill Package  Focuses On Energy Savings For PA Consumers

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Pittsburgh Companies Want A Place For Coal Gas And State’s Other Resources In Hydrogen Incentives

[Posted: March 27, 2024]

4/1/2024