HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection launched a new grant program aimed at plugging orphaned oil and gas wells throughout the state, using $76 million in federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
It offers grants up to $40,000 for wells 3,000 feet deep or less and up to $70,000 for wells deeper than 3,000 feet. The grants will be available to qualified well pluggers for orphan wells, which are wells that were abandoned before 1985. Applications will open on Oct. 9 through DEP’s website, and grants will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
The 2024-25 budget also allocated $11 million to DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas Management, ensuring that Pennsylvania can fully leverage available federal funds for well plugging.
Pennsylvania is home to more than 350,000 orphaned and abandoned wells, contributing nearly 8% of the state’s total methane emissions.
DEP has identified over 27,000 orphaned and abandoned wells and is prioritizing those posing the highest risks. DEP will continue to focus new plugging contracts on these high-priority wells, along with nearby wells, to maximize efficiency and preempt environmental threats. Meanwhile, the grant program will fund wells lower on the current priority list so that they do not become environmental hazards in the future.
More information on the grant program is available on the DEP website: www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Energy/OilandGasPrograms/OilandGasMgmt/LegacyWells/Pages/default.aspx
