Shallow wells

Bonding requirements must be strengthened

An Alabama-based oil and gas company has gone on a buying spree, scooping up gas wells throughout our region. Diversified Gas & Oil owns about 24,000 of them, including more than a thousand they call “unloved” wells. The state Department of Environmental Protection calls them abandoned.

In the shallow gas well business, owners of wells are expected to post a bond with the state. That bond acts as an insurance policy that pays out if the well owner fails to follow proper plugging procedures. The bond amount, $2,500 per well, is far too low.

The Western Organization of Resource Councils, a 15,000-member watchdog group, calls the situation a “reclamation crisis” across the U.S. “Bonding amounts should reflect current reclamation costs to protect our land and taxpayer liability,” the organization has said.

DEP spokesman Neil Shader adds that the actual costs of plugging orphaned wells can range from $10,000 to $100,000 each. He said the problem with untended, ownerless wells is “staggering.”

Enter Diversified. Its wells are not ownerless. As one of the country’s largest operators of oil and gas wells, Diversified should have the knowhow to get the wells producing or cap those it can’t.

But the need remains to raise bonding amounts. Consideration can be given to the mom-and-pop well operator that may not be able to shoulder higher bonding costs.

Ignoring the issue is not reasonable. Leaking methane gas is combustible. A legislative initiative and a stamp of approval from the governor is called for here.