HARRISBURG (TNS) — Frustration with orphan well-plugging efforts in Pennsylvania came out during a Department of Environmental Protection budget hearing on Tuesday, as did a preview of partisan sparring over energy policy that is likely to happen in the Capitol in coming months.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s $51.5 billion budget proposal for 2025-26 included a call to modify tax credits to boost investments in energy production and to embrace an “all of the above” strategy for future sources including gas, nuclear and renewable sources.
Leaders in the Republican-controlled Senate, though, say Mr. Shapiro should first drop an appeal of a Commonwealth Court decision that blocked Pennsylvania’s participation in the multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Republicans have called both RGGI and a separate Shapiro proposal to create a Pennsylvania-specific carbon emissions reduction program nothing more than new taxes.
On Tuesday, Senate Republican Majority Leader Joe Pittman of Indiana County and Democratic Sen. Amanda Cappelletti of Montgomery County showed how far apart the two sides are.
Mr. Pittman, while questioning DEP Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley, said that even humans emit carbon, and that any fine or fee that is placed on companies that generate electricity “ultimately gets borne by the consumer of electricity.”
Moments later, Ms. Cappelletti bashed Mr. Pittman’s thinking.
“Our evolution has decimated the flora and fauna that utilizes carbon emissions and removes it from the air,” she said. That, coupled with carbon emissions generated by industry, have made programs like the one proposed by Mr. Shapiro necessary to restore “some semblance of balance,” Ms. Cappelletti said.
On well plugging, both Mr. Shirley and Republican Sen. Gene Yaw of Lycoming County expressed exasperation with the lack of progress by a program adopted by Pennsylvania in 2022 — but subject to approval by a federal agency.
Mr. Yaw said he believed that not one well had been plugged under the program, and Ms. Shirley agreed.
“But that is not on the Department of Environmental Protection,” Ms. Shirley said. About 300 applications that came in have been reviewed by the state and forwarded to the federal government, she said.
“We are just waiting for the Department of Interior to approve those wells to be plugged,” she said. “We are just as frustrated with this process.”
Mr. Yaw said DEP numbers indicated that overall, about 27,000 wells are waiting to be plugged. He said the state has to “figure out a way to do them quickly and efficiently.” He questioned what he said was Pennsylvania’s expenditure of about $100,000 per well-plugging job, as compared to other states where the cost is less than $20,000.
Ms. Shirley said several factors may have driven up the price on the set of wells Mr. Yaw described, with one being “they were probably some of the worst wells we had.” She said the latest round of bids on well-plugging have come in slightly lower than Mr. Yaw’s figure.
Asked about saving costs on office space, Ms. Shirley said DEP plans to consolidate its Pittsburgh regional office from two buildings to one. Or, she said, DEP could even share space with another state agency. Another district office in New Castle also will be “consolidated” although Ms. Shirley did not offer other details.
DEP currently has just over 2,600 employees. Its proposed budget for 2025-26 is $262.7 million.
