The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection knows there are hundreds of abandoned and potentially-hazardous gas/oil wells scattered throughout the Erie region and tens of thousands statewide.
Mickey Kay watched officials take emergency action to seal off one of those wells, located near his home, on Aug. 27.
Kay said he now feels safer and more at ease.
Work crews hired by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sealed off an abandoned natural gas well Aug. 27 in the 3300 block of Baer Beach Road in Millcreek Township, along the bluffs overlooking Lake Erie and adjacent to the Crystal Point Condominium complex. DEP officials said the well was leaking methane gas, which could create an explosion hazard, and likely dates back to the 1920s or 1930s. The well is classified as an “orphan well,” which means that is no longer in service; that its owner is unknown or out of business; and that the well has not been properly plugged to prevent pollution.
“This is a residential area. There is a danger, and this is a relief for our citizens here,” said Kay, 78, a resident of the Crystal Point Condominiums in the 3300 block of Baer Beach Road in Millcreek Township, located on the bluffs overlooking the Lake Erie shoreline.
Kay is also president of the Crystal Point Condominium Association; he said there are about 90 people who live within the development. Neighbors have known for years, Kay said, that potentially deadly methane gas was leaking from a well on the bluffs, adjacent to the condominiums.
Mickey Kay, 78, lives in the Crystal Point Condominiums in the 3500 block of Baer Beach Road in Millcreek Township, located on the bluffs overlooking the Lake Erie shoreline. Kay said he and other residents have known for years that an abandoned natural gas well near their homes was leaking methane gas, and they’ve lodged complaints.
“Depending on the way the wind is blowing, you could often smell it,” Kay said. “We complained several times, including to the EPA. We’re relieved that it’s finally being taken care of.”
What are ‘orphan wells’?
The DEP considers the 800-foot-deep well on Baer Beach Road, which likely dates back to the 1920s or 1930s, to be what’s known as an “orphan well.”
That means it is no longer in service; that its owner is unknown or out of business; and that the well had not been properly plugged to prevent pollution.
DEP has identified over 27,000 orphan/abandoned wells statewide; the agency estimates there are at least 438 such wells located in Erie County.
The department’s Orphan Well Plugging Grant Program provides state funding to seal off wells that “pose a risk to environmental and human health, including the potential for methane leaks, migration, and water contamination,” according to DEP.
Scott Dudzic, a Meadville-based DEP environmental program manager for oil and gas operations, said the well was discovered and then tested after “multiple complaints over time” from the public, including Crystal Point neighbors.
Dudzic could not pinpoint when the first complaint was lodged.
“The department determined the well needed to be plugged sooner rather than later,” Dudzic said. “A lot of times there are wells, including here in Erie County, where we don’t know who the responsible parties are. They were drilled a long time ago.”
The amounts of methane leaking from the Baer Beach Road “could create a public health and safety risk for the residents nearby. The migration of that methane into an enclosed area could create an explosive atmosphere,” Dudzic said. “When our testers came out they could smell it, and our meters detected it.”
DEP hired R. Rindfuss Drilling LP, of Waterford, to fill the well with concrete, which seals off the well’s ability to produce gas and prevents leakage, Dudzic said.
The work costs about $30,000 and will take several days to complete.
The need for additional funding
Dudzic said DEP has identified another local orphan well that needs to be sealed soon. That well is also located in a residential area — the 1600 block of Linwood Avenue on the city of Erie’s east side — and is also leaking methane gas.
R. Rindfuss Drilling will also be sealing that well soon “in the upcoming weeks,” Dudzic said.
State Sen. Dan Laughlin, of Millcreek Township, R-49th Dist., was at the Baer Beach Road property on Aug. 27 as the gas well there was being plugged.
“When you’re putting straight methane into the atmosphere, that’s a problem. So it’s important to get these orphan wells plugged as fast as we can,” Laughlin said.
Laughlin said he supports allocating additional state funding toward this issue and finding “cost-efficient ways” to deal with abandoned wells.
“Plugging 50 or 100 of these every year isn’t going to cut it,” Laughlin said. “I’ve had some conversations with (DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley) about it. But there’s only a fraction of the money available that is needed.”
Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on X at@ETNflowers.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: State officials dealing with leaking ‘orphan wells’ in Erie region