Plugging Project Begins at one of Pennsylvania's Abandoned Oil Fields

2/17/2014 Duke Center, Pennsylvania

As bizarre as it may seem the Thomases have been fighting to stop the oil from flowing out of the leaking wells into the Allegheny Watershed for over 25 years. Their persistence paid off when a project to plug 7 of the dozens of leaking wells left unplugged on their land in Duke Center, Pennsylvania began this month. Read more about the Thomas' 25 year long ordeal here:
 http://saveourstreamspa.blogspot.com/2013/12/life-on-wrong-side-of-oil-field-tracks.html

Recent proposed changes to regulations  would require operators who choose to explore for shale gas among historic oil and gas well bores have been proposed. These proposed regulations seem borrowed from the closing the barn door after the horse escapes idiom.

Operators would be required to identify orphaned or abandoned wells within 1,000 feet of the well bore, and would be required to plug them if during or after fracking the nearby abandoned wells act as conduits to the surface.

Legacy wells intersect water bearing zones and left unplugged these wells may become pathways, allowing natural gas and other fluids to enter the aquifer. For more information visit www.saveourstreamspa.org.

The proposed regulations, if passed would not require operators to monitor nearby aquifers, replace water supplies that have been impacted by communication between new exploration and abandoned wells. Nor do the proposals specify a length of time operators would be required to monitor for communication between wells.

The public is invited to comment on these proposed changes until March. 14th, 2014.

Homes and schools have been developed over Pennsylvania’s historic oil fields. Regulators desperately need input from the citizens who live in these historically drilled areas.
Comments may be mailed, sent by email. For information on how to participate visit: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/public_resources/20303/surface_regulations/1587188 Visit the following link for additional tips and instructions: http://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/RegComments/Agreement.aspx

02/17/2014 Plugging a well on the Thomas property, Duke Center, Pennsylvania