![]() For operators like Range Resources, which operates more than 1,000 wells in Pennsylvania, the blanket bonding requirement equates to roughly $600 per well. Bonding levels can range from $4,000 for a single well to $600,000 for a blanket bond covering 167 wells or more. The state sets bonding levels dependent on the number of wells in an operator’s possession and the depth of the wells. Unfortunately, despite being raised in 2012, the bonding levels set by regulators are far too low to provide adequate funds for the state to take cleanup into their own hands. Like other states, Pennsylvania requires operators to post bonds prior to drilling as collateral in the event a company can’t or won’t fund the plugging of a well. Research has shown that abandoned wells may already contribute up to 7 percent of the state’s annual methane emissions. As a cautionary tale, 30 cases of contamination in Texas have already been documented in conventional abandoned wells.Īdditionally, unplugged wells often leak methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change. Local water supplies could be at risk of contamination from fluid or methane migrating from shale formations, particularly if wells are not properly plugged. Second, abandoned fracked gas wells pose unique threats to public and environmental health. Researchers estimate the cost of plugging an average fracked well in Pennsylvania at about $100,000 per well, but costs have been reported as high as $700,000 per well in some instances. Abandoned fracked wells, however, pose unique dangers to the state and its citizens.įirst, fracked wells are typically far deeper than conventional oil and gas wells, making the cost of plugging them substantial. Past drilling has left the state with a log of more than 8,000 orphaned conventional oil and gas wells that need plugging, with potentially hundreds of thousands of more yet to be identified and documented. Pennsylvania is not new to the issue of abandoned oil and gas wells. – are flirting with bankruptcy.Īs seen in past fossil fuel busts, operators may be unable, or unwilling, to finance promises to plug and reclaim drilling sites, potentially putting the burden of cleanup on the taxpayers of Pennsylvania while endangering public health and the environment. Some – including Chesapeake Energy, the second biggest producer in the U.S. With evaporating profit margins, new drilling has waned to the point where today there are fewer drilling rigs operational than before the boom took off, and many companies are running out of money. The fracking boom in Pennsylvania and elsewhere flooded the market with cheap gas, driving prices down to around $2.50 per million Btu where it hovers today. Pennsylvania’s fracking industry – once seen as creating a lasting economic boom in the Keystone State – is on the ropes. The first post in the series can be found here. ![]() ![]() This is the second in a series of posts on the implications of the fracking bust and weak bonding requirements on taxpayers and the environment. Frontier Group intern and University of Massachusetts – Amherst student Toby Armstrong contributed this blog post. ![]()
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