Pennsylvania has plugged its 500th orphaned or abandoned well under Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration, while launching research intended to help decide which of the thousands remaining should be addressed first.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Jessica Shirley marked the milestone October 21 in Washington County. The agency said the Somerset Township well had been leaking gas into the ground and atmosphere in a residential neighborhood before crews uncovered and sealed it.
M&A Resources completed the work under an emergency contract, with DEP, the Environmental Defense Fund and McGill University involved in the effort, according to the administration. The state says abandoned wells can threaten groundwater, release methane and create safety hazards.
The milestone addresses only part of the documented problem. Pennsylvania has more than 27,000 known orphaned and abandoned wells, DEP says, making the identification of especially hazardous sites central to how cleanup resources are used.
A five-year, $2.4 million DEP grant to Penn State will examine that question in greater detail. Environmental engineering associate professor Nathaniel Warner will lead a team collecting air, groundwater and soil samples near a subset of wells, the university announced October 22.
The researchers plan to identify chemicals and evaluate potential exposure through breathing, ingestion and skin contact. Their work will help refine DEP’s pre-plugging assessment tool; the grant announcement describes planned research, rather than completed findings about particular communities.
Community participation is part of the project. Penn State says public meetings will allow residents to identify wells and raise health concerns, while a public data portal will make results accessible. Jennifer Baka and Faith Kibuye will lead those outreach efforts.
The study uses federal infrastructure-law money provided through DEP’s orphaned-well grant funding. Separately, DEP’s standing program draws on drilling-permit surcharges and other funds, reflecting the combination of funding sources used for the state’s long-term cleanup responsibilities.
The next stage combines continued plugging with better risk information. The new study is intended to improve priorities, not replace immediate work at dangerous sites, and its planned sampling will help officials distinguish potential hazards from measured exposure.