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.