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With more than 100 years of drilling not only across the state but in Washington County, the number of local abandoned wells is estimated to be more than the 37 documented by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
And orphaned wells pose not only a safety risk but also potential environmental hazard.
"I don't think we have identified all that's out there," said Ohio Rep. Andy Thompson, R-Marietta.
The Ohio Senate is set to consider a bill sponsored by Thompson that passed unanimously in the House concerning idle and abandoned oil and gas wells last month.
Orphaned wells are those which were drilled prior to regulation in the 1960s and 1970s. Many were for either crude oil or natural gas on private properties to heat homes but over the years they may have been insufficiently plugged or just abandoned and overgrown.
House Bill 225 outlines an increase in spending from the war chest of the Oil and Gas Well Fund by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to plug orphaned wells across the state. Currently, the spending cap of the fund on plugging orphaned wells is 14 percent. The legislation proposes raising that cap to 45 percent.
"There was a need to get them motivated and moving from the measly number that was being plugged before," said Thompson. "Now they think they can do 80 orphaned wells in the next year which is a big difference from the seven or eight a year done before."
Thompson introduced the bill in May last year and it spent the next eight months in the Ohio House Energy and Natural Resources Committee before unanimous support from the House in January.
"Accountability was a big part of this, it's a fund that's generating $40 million to $50 million a year from oil and gas production," said Thompson. "And it has a dedicated objective to use those funds to not only regulate the industry but to deal with orphan wells. We know they pose an environmental risk."
But in recent years the fund has been dipped into for special interests, unrelated lawsuit settlements and bolstering of the state general fund.
"Instead of using that money, set up specifically to address an environmental risk it's been moved to completely unrelated lawsuit settlements and things that have nothing to do with oil and gas," said Thompson. "The change from 14 percent to 45 percent will hopefully restrain these raids on those designated funds and light a fire to find and address these wells."
The bill was introduced in the Ohio Senate less than a week later and will be referred to the equivalent committee upon which Ohio Sen. Frank Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction, sits.
"I'm not a fortune teller," said Hoagland, who couldn't give a definite date for when the committee will review the bill. "The intention of the bill is to do good and there are folks in Marietta that have the ability to fill the holes… We've just got to follow through with it. There was a plan and the fund already to deal with the orphaned wells (but) they never followed through the first time."
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas Resources, the Orphan Well Program was established in 1977 to plug improperly abandoned oil and natural gas wells and is funded by a portion of the state tax on oil and gas production.
Over the years the numbers of found wells plugged have varied, from less than 20 wells plugged to almost 120 in a year in 1986, 1988 and 1989.
"There's science and engineering that gets involved when you go to fill it, and to make it look great, that's an art," said Hoagland.
Mike Chadsey, director of public relations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said the legislation makes sense not only from the industry's perspective as shale exploration continues but from an environmental perspective, an agricultural perspective and a safety perspective.
"Many of these wells were drilled pre-World War I and pre-regulations of the 1960s," explained Chadsey. "It can be a safety issue. Think of the exploring kids in the woods or the edges of the farm and they come upon abandoned rusty metal equipment, a hole or pit. There wasn't regulation for how to fill these before 1977, either so there could just be dirt and trees used to plug these wells."
The range of orphaned wells needs could include just a simple concrete plug of a dry hole, or a significant cap to stop methane from escaping, he said.
"Today's standard is cement with all of the valves, tanks and pipes removed," Chadsey added.
"You don't want crude bubbling up to the surface either."
The average cost is between $60,000 and $70,000, said Chadsey.
"But there are plenty of companies, especially in the southeast, that have the expertise and equipment needed to get a state contract to plug and roll out," he said.
OOGA estimates that there have been approximately 265,000 wells drilled in Ohio, but only 65,000 are still producing.
"So now with this influx of money into the program, a farmer can report an abandoned well on their property, or a developer can report a well found as they clear forests, and the state can contract a plug," added Chadsey.
According to the ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management, landowners who think that a well on their property is abandoned can call them and request that an inspection be conducted on the well.
If after inspection and required research is complete, the well is found to have no viable owner, it will be referred to the Orphan Well Program.
Orphaned wells are then prioritized by the severity of threat to public health and safety.
More information about the program is available at oilandgas.ohiodnr.gov/orphanwellprogram.
Risks of an
abandoned oil or gas well:
¯ Personal injury from encountering:
¯ Unknown pressures.
¯ Flammable liquids.
¯ Explosive gases.
¯ Toxic gases.
¯ Environmental damage can result from oil, gas and brine contamination of:
¯ Surface and subsurface soil.
¯ Springs, streams, rivers and lakes.
¯ Water wells.
¯ Financial liability including:
¯ Property damage.
¯ Medical costs.
¯ Environmental damage and cleanup costs.
¯ Loss of wildlife, livestock and pets.
¯ Plugging costs.
¯ Legal fees and fines.
Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources Oil and Gas Resources Management.