In December, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a press release and rang the bell to announce his administration had (at that point) plugged 132 orphaned and abandoned wells in just 11 months, surpassing the total over the previous eight years combined, with big plans to expand the program (see PA DEP Spending $44M This Yr, $76M Next Yr to Plug Orphaned Wells). Now comes word, more like an accusation, from Shapiro’s environmental left that the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) plugging program is picking the lowest of the low-hanging fruit (wells) to plug instead of tackling the more critical (leaky) wells that could and should be done first.
In December, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a press release and rang the bell to announce his administration had (at that point) plugged 132 orphaned and abandoned wells in just 11 months, surpassing the total over the previous eight years combined, with big plans to expand the program (see 