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Clean Air Council/Sierra Club: PA Falling Behind In Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Bonding; Burden Falls On Taxpayers

On April 22, the Clean Air Council and Sierra Club noted the federal government finalized a significant rule that increases minimum bonding amounts from $10,000 to $150,000 per oil and gas lease on federal land.

Well bond amounts are the money that drilling companies have to put aside for eventual cleanup and plugging before being allowed to drill a new well.

However, when bond amounts are less than the actual cost of plugging, taxpayers are left responsible for cleanup costs when companies go out of business and abandon their well.

[There are as many as 250,000 abandoned conventional oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania alone, but no one knows the real number since drilling began in 1859.]

“In raising federal lease bond amounts to reflect actual cleanup costs, the federal government is taking an important step to protect both taxpayers and the environment,” said Alex Bomstein, Executive Director of the Clean Air Council. “But while the rest of the country moves forward, Pennsylvania has regressed.

“In 2022, the Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 96, which capped the bond amount for conventional wells at a pittance of $2,500 per well, far below the actual cost.

“To protect Pennsylvanians, the Council and our partners are pursuing a joint lawsuit asking the court to rule Act 96 unconstitutional under the Environmental Rights Amendment.

“The federal government’s decision this month underscores how Pennsylvania’s well bonding system is broken and sacrifices community health and taxpayer dollars.”

"In updating its bonding amount, BLM is acknowledging that the current amount established more than 60 years ago was insufficient to cover the costs of cleaning up abandoned wells,” said Kelsey Krepps, Senior Field Organizer at Sierra Club.

“This will save taxpayers from the burden of reclaiming wells after oil and gas companies neglect to clean up their polluting mess. This change reflects the reality of how expensive it is to protect people's health and the environment from abandoned wells.

“We're just asking Pennsylvania leaders to reach the same commonsense conclusions.”

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - April 20 to 26 - 2 Venting Shale Gas Wells; 16 More Conventional Abandoned Well Violations, 1 Shale Gas Well Abandonment [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - April 27 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 93 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In April 27 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week - Gas:

-- Witness At Senate Hearing On Oil & Gas Wastewater Road Dumping Reports Her Home Has Been Surrounded By Dumping; Dumping Again On The Upswing In 2024 [PaEN]

-- DEP Reports ZERO Shale Gas Well Permits Under Review; DEP May Have Only 20% Of The Revenue Needed To Fund Its Oil & Gas Regulation Program [PaEN]

-- Clean Air Council/Sierra Club: PA Falling Behind In Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Bonding; Burden Falls On Taxpayers [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- Inquirer Guest Essay: You Don’t Need To ‘Sacrifice’ Chester For Europe’s LNG Gas Security - By Lisa Badum, Member Of German Bundestag Since 2017

-- Williamsport Sun Guest Essay: Lift The LNG Gas Permit Ban [On New Gas Export Facilities] - By David Callahan, Marcellus Shale Gas Coalition [Coalition Wants To Ship PA Gas To Our Competitor China ]