Old Cecil Twp. wells to be sealed by DEP
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A project to plug eight abandoned gas wells in Cecil Township, some of them in residential areas, will begin Monday.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has announced the project, which will involve cleaning out the wells and properly sealing them with concrete. In one case, gas has been venting into the atmosphere, and in another the well was improperly plugged with a telephone pole. An improperly sealed well can allow methane to migrate up through the bore hole and get into ground water.
The project is considered a major one since so far this year there have been 13 oil or gas wells plugged statewide.
“So eight in one area is a pretty big deal,” said John Poister, a spokesman for the southwest region of DEP.
A $292,348 contract was awarded to Hydrocarbon Well Service of Buckhannon, W.Va, to plug all the wells, each estimated at about 3,500 feet deep.
Poister could not say how long the project would take but said residents will notice crews in areas where the work is taking place. Work will begin next week in the 3600 block of Washington Pike, 1000 block of Skyline Drive and 1200 block of Ridge Road.
Since the Drake oil well was drilled in 1859 in Titusville, there have been 34,000 oil and gas wells drilled throughout the state. An estimated 8,000 wells are so-called orphan wells because their ownership is not known. The state did not require permits for well drilling until 1956. And there was no requirement to register them with the DEP until 1985.
The DEP places a surcharge on all oil and gas permits, and that surcharge funds the state’s gas well plugging program fund.
“We don’t know where a lot of these are. People come across them and report them to us,” Poister said.
Township Manager Donald Gennuso said it was possible an abandoned well was discovered during a recent housing development in Cecil.
Others may have been located during gas-drilling activity.
Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Range Resources, said the company conducts an analysis of its drilling locations to determine if there are any abandonned oil and gas wells. If it comes across such wells, Range plugs them at its own expense. He added Act 13 has provided a funding method for the gas industry to address such wells.