Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded $7,240,000 to 35 Marginal Conventional Well (MCW) plugging projects — covering 329 wells — across the Commonwealth through the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP).
“Methane is an extremely prevalent greenhouse gas, driving climate change and threatening the public health of our communities,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “By reducing methane emissions from unproductive wells, we are both lowering the state’s contribution to the gases causing devastating climate impacts globally and preventing potentially dangerous gas leakages and backflow pollution of watersheds and groundwaters in and around communities across the Commonwealth. The Shapiro Administration has made historic progress, plugging more orphan and abandoned wells than were plugged in the past decade combined — and this new investment will build on that strong track record.”
The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided new opportunities and funding to reduce methane emissions from the petroleum and natural gas sector and DEP created the MERP Grant to provide funding to applicants to plug an eligible MCWs.
MCWs are defined as conventional oil and/or gas wells that produce less than 15 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE, i.e. 15bbl/day oil or 90,000 cubic feet (90 mcf) of gas/day or combination thereof).
Through MERP:
- DEP provides funding up to $420,000 for any single applicant within each application period;
- $20,000 for each eligible well plugged that is a marginal conventional well of a depth of 3,000 feet or less or the actual cost of the qualified well plugger to plug the well, whichever is less;
- $35,000 for each eligible well plugged that is a marginal conventional well of a depth greater than 3,000 feet or the actual cost of the qualified well plugger to plug the well, whichever is less;
- Or to an eligible applicant who plugs all eligible wells approved to plug as part of the application submitted to the Department, may plug additional eligible wells with prior Department approval up to the maximum grant approved as part of the application.
In order to be eligible, applying operators had to be in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, including those related to the submission of well production, waste, and mechanical integrity assessment reports to DEP, and provide identification of whether methane emissions were detected at each eligible well. If screenings indicated that methane was detected, grant recipients are required to measure pre-plugging and post-plugging emissions.
Wells that are not leaking a detectable level of methane are also included in the program since a well that is not currently leaking methane will eventually leak as materials break down over time. Non-leaking marginal conventional wells that are plugged today represent future methane emissions prevented.
Projects receiving funding include:
Armstrong County
- $20,000 to one project to plug 1 well
Beaver County
- $40,000 to one project to plug 2 wells
Clarion County
- $55,000 to one project to plug 2 wells
Clearfield County
- $105,000 to two projects to plug 3 wells
Erie County
- $805,000 to three projects to plug 26 wells
Forest County
- $380,000 to one project to plug 19 wells
Indiana County
- $280,000 to one project to plug 14 wells
McKean County
- $1,240,000 to six projects to plug 62 wells
Potter County
- $780,000 to three projects to plug 39 wells
Tioga County
- $20,000 to one project to plug 1 well
Venango County
- $1,340,000 to five projects to plug 67 wells
Warren County
- $1,100,000 to five projects to plug 52 wells
Westmoreland County
- $125,000 to one project to plug 4 wells
Multi-County Awards
- $340,000 to plug 17 wells (Armstrong, Clarion, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson)
- $135,000 to plug 6 wells (Clarion, Erie)
- $140,000 to plug 4 wells (Clarion, Indiana)
- $335,000 to plug 10 wells (Westmoreland, Armstrong, Clearfield, Indiana Erie)