As we reported two days ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, acting like a junkie cut off from his drugs, finally got the Trump administration to restart the flow of drugs (i.e., money) that had been paused to give Elon Musk’s DOGErs a chance to ensure the payments are legit (see PA Gov. Claims Victory in Un-Pausing $2B in Energy-Related Pymts). Much of the money was earmarked for environmental programs. No sooner had the spigots reopened than Shapiro and his Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) began advertising that they have $396 million burning a hole in their pockets. Read More “PA DEP Can’t Wait to Give Away $396M of “Restored” $2.1B from Feds”

We explored an important issue last September—the ballooning cost of plugging orphaned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (see PA DEP Spending WAY Too Much to Plug Abandoned/Orphaned Wells). As a reminder, abandoned wells are those with no production for at least 12 months in a row. Orphaned wells were abandoned before 1985, and the owner is unknown, so the responsibility for plugging them rests with the state. The problem is that when the state runs the program and must conform to federal employment regulations (to use federal funds), the per-well cost to plug wells goes through the roof. The cost PA is paying (continues to pay) to plug wells is roughly five times as much as other states. What the heck is going on? Read More “PA DEP Still Spends 5X More to Plug Orphaned Wells Than Other States”