So why are we so concerned about the impending INCREASE OF ORPHAN oil and gas wells AND THE WAY THAT THESE WELLS will be USED for future generations?
Governor Hickenlooper signed Executive Order D 2018-12 on July 18, 2018 to improve the environment, public health, and safety of Coloradans by directing the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to plug, remediate, and reclaim orphaned wells and sites and prevent future orphaned wells and sites. The Executive Order requires COGCC to update its comprehensive list of orphaned wells and sites by August 1, 2018, and to prioritize the list into low-, medium-, and high-priority categories based on identified risk factors.
Link to list https://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/library/Technical/Orphan/COGCC_Orphaned_Well_Sites_List_20180801.pdf
This recent Denver Post recent goes into more detail.
Gov. John Hickenlooper fast-tracked the disclosure and cleanup of “orphaned” oil and gas wells Wednesday with an executive order aimed at addressing a potential safety issue that has vexed the industry and regulators for decades. This is an effort to get way out ahead of an issue before it becomes a problem,” Hickenlooper said. There are about 55,000 oil and gas wells throughout Colorado and at least 260 of them are “orphaned.” A well becomes classified as orphaned when the state can’t find an owner — usually because the company that owned it went bankrupt. State law requires companies to plug wells with cement and restore the habitat when they’re done, but it’s hard — if not impossible — to force a bankrupt company to pay for that. These orphaned wells essentially become wards of the state, and the law requires Colorado to assume the responsibility of remediation. It’s not cheap. COGCC spends, on average, $80,000 to make sure a well doesn’t leak, explode or leach toxins into local groundwater. Hickenlooper’s order creates a pathway for private companies to fix the wells for less than half that price, but the governor’s plan allows for the potential of higher costs. Hickenlooper’s executive order set a July 1, 2023, deadline to “fully conduct plugging, remediation and reclamation of all medium- and high-priority orphaned wells and orphaned sites.” The $25 million price tag on that goal will be paid by a tax the COGCC charges oil and gas companies as well as a change in state law that gives the commission $5 million a year. Wednesday’s executive order is one of several steps taken by the governor and the state since a cut pipeline filled the basement of a Firestone home with gas, causing a deadly explosion in April 2017. The explosion, which killed two people and injured two others, reignited long-standing tension between the oil and gas industry, environmental activists and rural Colorado communities. But that line wasn’t an orphan well. It belonged to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. “It’s not just what happened in that instance,” Hickenlooper said. “The better job we do at maintaining the quality of the oil patch … the lower the possibility that we have that kind of accident.” Colorado’s orphan well problem is relatively small when compared with other Western states. Wyoming has more than 4,600 orphan wells just on its state and private lands. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates more than a million exist nationwide. “We’re certainly not one of the worst states, but we haven’t been one of the best states,” Hickenlooper said. In 2007, an abandoned well caused a home explosion in Trinidad, injuring three people. And in 2005, a trailer in La Plata County exploded after methane gas leaked from an abandoned well. One divisive issue left out of Hickenlooper’s order was setbacks, which dictate how close oil and gas companies can get to homes, schools and other public places. Hickenlooper said that’s something the legislature or the people have to decide through a ballot initiative. Hickenlooper’s executive order also directed the commission to “issue a guidance” by Jan. 1 for private oil and gas companies that want to plug orphan wells in the areas they operate. “My companies average about $40,000 to plug a well,” said Colorado Petroleum Council executive director Tracee Bentley. “This is what we do for a living.” She added that several companies would even do it for free. The sticking point that’s kept these companies from capping these wells has been the liability rules for orphan wells. “If you touch one, you assume all the liability that comes with these wells,” Bentley said. “No one is going to take that risk.” Bentley expects the new guidance will open the door, finally, for private companies to plug some of these orphaned wells and potentially save the state millions of dollars. The state also is establishing a system of financial assurance that prevents future orphaned wells, Hickenlooper said. He wants COGCC to figure out how much money oil and gas companies should have to prove they have before they can drill. Wells in Colorado usually get abandoned by smaller, out-of-state companies that get in over their heads, Bentley said. Asking them to get more financial backing could keep companies on shakier financial footing from getting permits to drill. The problem is that could also push smaller Colorado companies out of the oil and gas business. “We have a lot of small operators in this state who have proven they are responsible,” Bentley said. “And we want to make sure they can continue to operate.” One option being floated is grandfathering in those existing companies.
The Growing problem of Orphaned wells
WASHINGTON — When Bill West drives his weed sprayer over wheat and hay fields at his ranch northwest of Gillette, Wyo., he bumps into the occasional debris from the more than a hundred defunct natural gas wells on his 10,000-acre property. he company that owned the wells went out of business four years ago, leaving behind fuse boxes, internet boxes and thousands of feet of underground pipe. “They just walked away and left everything sitting,” said West, 85. “It’s up to the state to take care of it now.” So-called “orphan” oil and gas wells, which have been abandoned by defunct companies that cannot pay to plug them, are a growing problem in many states thanks to a recent slump in energy prices that has forced marginal operators out of business. Adam Peltz, a senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, said he heard officials from 10 states highlight their work on orphan wells at a spring meeting of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. “It’s probably the issue that was raised by the most number of states.”Peltz said that dealing with orphan wells is a cyclical issue — more wells become the state’s responsibility after a downturn — but it’s getting worse over time, as states struggle with a backlog of wells that dates back decades. Nobody knows how many orphan and abandoned drilling sites litter farms, forests and backyards nationwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more than a million of them. Unplugged wells can leak methane, an explosive gas, into neighborhoods and leach toxins into groundwater. Methane leaking from abandoned wells caused explosions at a Colorado construction site in 2007 and at a Pennsylvania home in 2011. In 2014, an Ohio elementary school had to be evacuated because of a gas leak traced to an abandoned well underneath the gym. Near the West Texas town of Imperial, effluence from decades-old oil wells has created a “lake” of salty, sulfurous water.
Plans for the future
.
Link to list https://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/library/Technical/Orphan/COGCC_Orphaned_Well_Sites_List_20180801.pdf
This recent Denver Post recent goes into more detail.
Gov. John Hickenlooper fast-tracked the disclosure and cleanup of “orphaned” oil and gas wells Wednesday with an executive order aimed at addressing a potential safety issue that has vexed the industry and regulators for decades. This is an effort to get way out ahead of an issue before it becomes a problem,” Hickenlooper said. There are about 55,000 oil and gas wells throughout Colorado and at least 260 of them are “orphaned.” A well becomes classified as orphaned when the state can’t find an owner — usually because the company that owned it went bankrupt. State law requires companies to plug wells with cement and restore the habitat when they’re done, but it’s hard — if not impossible — to force a bankrupt company to pay for that. These orphaned wells essentially become wards of the state, and the law requires Colorado to assume the responsibility of remediation. It’s not cheap. COGCC spends, on average, $80,000 to make sure a well doesn’t leak, explode or leach toxins into local groundwater. Hickenlooper’s order creates a pathway for private companies to fix the wells for less than half that price, but the governor’s plan allows for the potential of higher costs. Hickenlooper’s executive order set a July 1, 2023, deadline to “fully conduct plugging, remediation and reclamation of all medium- and high-priority orphaned wells and orphaned sites.” The $25 million price tag on that goal will be paid by a tax the COGCC charges oil and gas companies as well as a change in state law that gives the commission $5 million a year. Wednesday’s executive order is one of several steps taken by the governor and the state since a cut pipeline filled the basement of a Firestone home with gas, causing a deadly explosion in April 2017. The explosion, which killed two people and injured two others, reignited long-standing tension between the oil and gas industry, environmental activists and rural Colorado communities. But that line wasn’t an orphan well. It belonged to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. “It’s not just what happened in that instance,” Hickenlooper said. “The better job we do at maintaining the quality of the oil patch … the lower the possibility that we have that kind of accident.” Colorado’s orphan well problem is relatively small when compared with other Western states. Wyoming has more than 4,600 orphan wells just on its state and private lands. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates more than a million exist nationwide. “We’re certainly not one of the worst states, but we haven’t been one of the best states,” Hickenlooper said. In 2007, an abandoned well caused a home explosion in Trinidad, injuring three people. And in 2005, a trailer in La Plata County exploded after methane gas leaked from an abandoned well. One divisive issue left out of Hickenlooper’s order was setbacks, which dictate how close oil and gas companies can get to homes, schools and other public places. Hickenlooper said that’s something the legislature or the people have to decide through a ballot initiative. Hickenlooper’s executive order also directed the commission to “issue a guidance” by Jan. 1 for private oil and gas companies that want to plug orphan wells in the areas they operate. “My companies average about $40,000 to plug a well,” said Colorado Petroleum Council executive director Tracee Bentley. “This is what we do for a living.” She added that several companies would even do it for free. The sticking point that’s kept these companies from capping these wells has been the liability rules for orphan wells. “If you touch one, you assume all the liability that comes with these wells,” Bentley said. “No one is going to take that risk.” Bentley expects the new guidance will open the door, finally, for private companies to plug some of these orphaned wells and potentially save the state millions of dollars. The state also is establishing a system of financial assurance that prevents future orphaned wells, Hickenlooper said. He wants COGCC to figure out how much money oil and gas companies should have to prove they have before they can drill. Wells in Colorado usually get abandoned by smaller, out-of-state companies that get in over their heads, Bentley said. Asking them to get more financial backing could keep companies on shakier financial footing from getting permits to drill. The problem is that could also push smaller Colorado companies out of the oil and gas business. “We have a lot of small operators in this state who have proven they are responsible,” Bentley said. “And we want to make sure they can continue to operate.” One option being floated is grandfathering in those existing companies.
The Growing problem of Orphaned wells
WASHINGTON — When Bill West drives his weed sprayer over wheat and hay fields at his ranch northwest of Gillette, Wyo., he bumps into the occasional debris from the more than a hundred defunct natural gas wells on his 10,000-acre property. he company that owned the wells went out of business four years ago, leaving behind fuse boxes, internet boxes and thousands of feet of underground pipe. “They just walked away and left everything sitting,” said West, 85. “It’s up to the state to take care of it now.” So-called “orphan” oil and gas wells, which have been abandoned by defunct companies that cannot pay to plug them, are a growing problem in many states thanks to a recent slump in energy prices that has forced marginal operators out of business. Adam Peltz, a senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, said he heard officials from 10 states highlight their work on orphan wells at a spring meeting of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. “It’s probably the issue that was raised by the most number of states.”Peltz said that dealing with orphan wells is a cyclical issue — more wells become the state’s responsibility after a downturn — but it’s getting worse over time, as states struggle with a backlog of wells that dates back decades. Nobody knows how many orphan and abandoned drilling sites litter farms, forests and backyards nationwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more than a million of them. Unplugged wells can leak methane, an explosive gas, into neighborhoods and leach toxins into groundwater. Methane leaking from abandoned wells caused explosions at a Colorado construction site in 2007 and at a Pennsylvania home in 2011. In 2014, an Ohio elementary school had to be evacuated because of a gas leak traced to an abandoned well underneath the gym. Near the West Texas town of Imperial, effluence from decades-old oil wells has created a “lake” of salty, sulfurous water.
Plans for the future
.