Plugging abandoned oil and gas wells could help save the environment – and jobs By Jeff Berardelli Abandoned oil and gas wells threaten environment
Drilling for oil and gas has a long history in the U.S., dating all the way back to 1859 when the first successful commercial oil well the Drake Well was drilled in northwestern Pennsylvania. This long history has made the state ground zero for abandoned wells, which often leak dangerous pollution into the environment and potent greenhouse gases like methane into the air.
It is estimated there may be a few hundred thousand abandoned wells in Pennsylvania some located in the woods, along riverbanks, in people s yards and even inside their homes. These wells are left behind orphaned to the state after their owners, often oil and gas companies, go bankrupt or when the wells fall into disrepair.
One of the drawbacks to birthing the modern oil industry is that Pennsylvaniaâs woods are pocked by thousands of decrepit and polluting wells.
Out of these wells, oil and brine can burble up onto land and into surface waters. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, vents into the atmosphere.
Closing these scars in the landscape has obvious benefits, but itâs not cheap.
Plugging just one old oil well costs $10,000, said David Hill, a board member of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association.
Hill spoke in Mondayâs meeting of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.
The wells in question far predate Pennsylvaniaâs natural gas drilling renaissance of the past decade.
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Direct Air Capture and Big Oil Details
CLIMATE POLITICS-CNBC recently produced a 17-minute video about direct air capture (DAC) and corporations, specifically big oil, funding R&D operations.
The video discusses the basic technology, as well as some pitfalls. Direct air capture is in early stages of developing technology to remove atmospheric CO2. (Source: Money is Pouring Into Carbon Capture Tec, But Challenges Remain, CNBC, March 3, 2021)
By implication, the oil giants are clearly aware of what’s at stake (a) the planet is stressed almost beyond limits (b) there’s some money to be made trying to fix it (c) it’s a great PR gig. But the problem is much bigger and more complex than oil and gas betting on early-stage development of technology to capture the same emissions they created in the first instance. Direct air capture is complex and expensive with sizeable infrastructure requirements, explained in further detail hereinafter, a real eye-