Pennsylvania Needs to Raise Bond Amounts for Oil and Gas Wells

Why Does Pennsylvania Need to Raise Bond Amounts?

Oil and gas companies have to set aside money with the state — known as a bond — to prove that they have sufficient funds to close their wells when those wells are done producing. This money is returned when they plug their wells. If the company goes out of business without plugging their wells, bonds ensure the state has the money to pay for cleanup and plugging. 

The Problem: Currently, bond amounts do not cover the costs of closing a well. They’re thousands of dollars less than what’s needed which means that if the company does go out of business and abandons their wells, the cost of plugging those wells falls to the state and its taxpayers. 

The Solution: Bonds need to cover the full cost of plugging to ensure that the state and taxpayers aren’t carrying the risk. 

Did You Know That Taxpayers Pay the Bill When Polluters Don’t Clean Up Their Messes?

Carbon Tracker’s portal estimates that it would cost $12.2 billion to plug all wells in Pennsylvania, and that the state has only $47.2 million in bonding available to plug these wells. This is 3% of the total money needed to close Pennsylvania’s wells leaving the state and taxpayers on the hook to make up the rest.

Pennsylvania’s Regulators Have the Power to Raise Bond Amounts

Sierra Club and partners* submitted two petitions for a rulemaking to the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) on September 14, 2021. These petitions ask the EQB to use their authority to raise bond amounts for conventional and fracking wells in the state. 

*Our partners: Clean Air Council, Earthworks, Mountain Watershed Association, PennFuture and Protect Penn-Trafford.

Bond amounts for drilling oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania are woefully inadequate to cover the full cost of closing a well, leaving the state, landowners, and taxpayers on the hook for cleanup. But, environmental regulators have the power to change this.

It’s time to get Pennsylvania off the hook for drillers’ responsibilities. 

Sign the petition!

Unplugged Wells Threaten Health and Climate

  • Unplugged or improperly plugged oil and gas wells leak methane and other chemicals into the air and water, harming public health and exacerbating the climate crisis. They mar communities, reduce property values and depress the local tax base. In some cases, they are also explosion hazards. 

  • Unplugged or improperly plugged oil and gas wells release significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is about 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide in driving climate change during the time it remains in the atmosphere. 

    • A study of methane leaks from abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania found that such wells account for as much as seven percent of the annual anthropogenic methane emissions in the state. 

  • The most recent IPCC Climate Report emphasized the need to focus on cutting methane emissions in order to avert the worst of the climate crisis.

Ways to Take Action and Learn More

  • Sign the petition and tell the EQB to raise bond amounts for oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania!
  • Watch our campaign launch webinar
  • Write a letter-to-the-editor in your local paper on why raising bonds is important. See our sample LTE Template.
  • Share the news on social media

Bonding Resources