American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2023 - 34

ConventionSec tion: Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association
" The governor has said DEP needs to
be properly staffed, and we certainly do
not disagree, " Weaver relates. " My list
of contacts at the department is in shambles
and it changes by the week. "
It can be especially difficult for the department
to attract skilled and experienced
replacements in a tight labor market, Weaver
acknowledges. " Many being hired as replacements
lack institutional knowledge, "
he observes. " I am not faulting them,
because we all have to start somewhere,
but the pool of experience from which
DEP has been pulling is very shallow. "
That can be disconcerting for operators
when they suddenly find themselves working
with inspectors whose only grasp of
regulatory compliance has heretofore
been abstract.
" Companies will hear about requirements
according to the book, " he illustrates.
" An operator who has been doing business
40-50 years may understand the intricacies
of an operation far better than someone
who has been on the job for a few months
and mainly goes by theories on how things
work instead of operational experience. "
New regulators have only one way to
gain firsthand experience, Weaver notes.
Unfortunately, the trials and errors inexperienced
regulators often go through as
they learn the ropes can create trials and
consternation for operators. " It's the
reality we have to deal with, " he imparts.
" We also hope DEP staff can learn to be
less adversarial toward the industry. We
understand everyone has a job to do, but
when the department strikes a more cooperative
tone with the industry, everyone
can do their jobs better. "
Abandoned Wells
DEP's personnel issues may limit
the department's ability to take advantage
of federal funds for plugging abandoned
oil and gas wells, Slagel considers.
He says those funds may prove
particularly helpful to a state that hosted
the world's first commercial wells. " We
have been concerned DEP lacks a program
capable of distributing that money, "
he maintains. " We will have to see
where that goes. "
The pace at which DEP has moved on
the program has not encouraged Weaver,
34 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
nor has its strategy. " Other states were
prepared, ready and in tune right away,
but it took DEP eight months to put out
the first bid packages, " he explains. " Its
first move was to hire people before developing
a pathway to success. "
Weaver cites abandoned wells as a
prime example of how the department
can achieve environmental goals by treating
the industry as a partner. " People in
the department say they need to find
Pennsylvania's hundreds of thousands of
abandoned wells, " he relates. " Rather
than chasing wells that may never be a
problem, would it be better to work together
to compile a list of the most critical
wells with potential to cause issues? I
don't know how the state can search for
many of these wells on private property,
but the industry knows more about how
to find them.
" We also hope DEP staff can
learn to be less adversarial
toward the industry. We
understand everyone has a
job to do, but when the
department strikes a more
cooperative tone with the
industry, everyone can do
their jobs better. "
-Daniel J. Weaver
PIOGA President
" Ohio has been doing some things
right, with a well-plugging program that
is a partnership with nongovernmental
organizations, state regulators and the industry, "
Weaver adds. " It was spending
more than $20 million a year to plug
abandoned wells before the federal program
started. Pennsylvania can do something
similar if we are allowed to. "
Under Ohio's collaborative approach,
he notes, contractors' liability ends after
the state confirms a well has been properly
plugged. " Often, in Pennsylvania, the
state is not signing off, meaning a contractor
still may have liability for a
plugged well, " Weaver contrasts. " If that
is the case, operators should be able to
make their own determinations about
certain things. "
The greatest point of contention in
that regard deals with disagreements over
abandoned wells' attainable bottoms, he
indicates, noting that regulators who insist
on plugging wells " by the book " can introduce
new problems in certain situations.
" One company only could get down to
1,500 feet on a 1,700 foot well, " Weaver
recounts. " It was told to keep trying, so
the crew went back in, but then they
could not get below 1,200 feet. Instead
of being able to set packers at 1,500
feet-which is well below the water
table-they lost 300 feet. "
Ultimately, he conveys, companies are
afraid of throwing money down a bottomless
pit. " That is why a lot of operators
don't even want to touch these, " Weaver
confirms.
Litigation And Legislation
Other loose ends PIOGA is monitoring
at the state regulatory level include RGGI
and an emergency rule for volatile organic
compound emissions from conventional
wells that the Wolf administration issued
late last year.
December's PIOGA Press notes that
PIOGA, the Pennsylvania Grade Crude
Oil Coalition and the Pennsylvania Independent
Petroleum Producers Association
are among those challenging the VOC
rule in court, with PIOGA General Counsel
Kevin Moody faulting the regulation's
underlying rationale. According to the
article, the Wolf administration timed the
rule's introduction so that going through
the standard rulemaking process would
have jeopardized millions of dollars in
federal highway funds.
" DEP inexplicably waited until October
2022 to submit the conventional VOC
regulation to create the so-called 'emergency'
relied upon to justify this latest
attempt to avoid complying with Pennsylvania
law and shift blame for the imposition
of federal sanctions to the House
Environmental Resources and Energy
Committee, " Moody reports. " PIOGA
will continue its efforts to force DEP's
compliance with Pennsylvania law with
respect to this rulemaking. "
As for Pennsylvania's status in RGGI,
American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2023

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