DEP: W.Va. Has 13,000 Abandoned Oil, Gas Wells
Charleston Gazette
7 August 2011
By The Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - A new report from the state Department of
Environmental Protection says West Virginia has 13,000 abandoned oil
and gas wells.
State law defines an abandoned well as a finished dry hole or a well
that hasn't been used in a year.
Operators are required to plug such wells unless they can demonstrate
they can be used in the future.
DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said the risks of the abandoned wells are
minimal, assuming they were built properly. The DEP focuses its
attention on those that could cause problems, such as wells leaking
sulfur or crude oil.
He tells West Virginia Public Broadcasting (http://bit.ly/qMoHZ5) that in the last
seven years, the DEP has reclaimed or plugged more than 250 wells at a
cost of more than $6 million.
"The sky's not falling on these abandoned wells, but it is something
that needs to be dealt with," he said.
"Yes, 13,000 of anything sounds like a large number. It is something
that needs to be addressed, but it's not something that's so urgent
that we need to drop everything we're doing."
Some wells remain under active permits, and in many cases, Huffman says
the potential for production still exists.
But Don Garvin of the West Virginia Environmental Council said the
number of abandoned wells identified in the recent State of the
Environment report is too high. The natural gas industry is sinking
deep, horizontal wells into the Marcellus shale field underlying much
of the state, and Garvin is worried about potential pollution of water
wells.
Garvin acknowledged, though, that the DEP only has so many resources.
"There's the will to plug these wells," he said, "but there's no money."
The State of the Environment report is released every three years.