Abandoned Wells Studied in NWPA
Researchers are studying abandoned wells in NWPA. Many of these wells were drilled as far back as the 19th century and most information on abandoned wells was previously nonexistent. There are 8,000 abandoned wells located on the Department Environmental Protection’s list of abandoned wells in Pennsylvania. There is an estimated 325,000 abandoned wells unrecorded in the state of Pennsylvania alone.
Researchers from both Princeton and Stanford Universities are gathering data on the abandoned well locations, conditions, and the release of pollutants. Researchers are most concerned with the emissions of methane gas coming from the wells. Methane gas has about 20 times the heat trapping effect as carbon dioxide. This means the methane gas leaking from the abandoned wells can pose a substantial problem to greenhouse effects on the earth.
Based on researcher’s samples so far, the countless abandoned wells could be responsible for as much as 10 percent of the methane from human activities in Pennsylvania. Unlike natural gas and oil wells that are only used for 10-15 years, abandoned wells can release methane gas for much longer periods. A possible solution would be to cap the wells that are releasing the greatest amounts of gas.
Dr.Mary Kang, along with other civil and environmental researchers, and members of the Caldwell Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited, visited an abandoned well located near the West Branch of Caldwell Creek in Crawford County earlier this month. They have placed a flux chamber(instrument for gathering gas emissions) over the well to collect data used for the study. They hope that the research will lead to a solution for dealing with the abandoned wells because of the potential environmental impacts.
For more information on this research, please visit: https://wws.princeton.edu/news-and-events/news/item/abandoned-wells-can-be-super-emitters-greenhouse-gas
More information can also be found at: http://saveourstreamspa.org/
Trout Unlimited(TU) focuses on conservation of trout in our waterways by protecting critical habitats and gathering critical data on the health of our streams. For more information on TU, please visit: http://www.tu.org/conservation/our-conservation-approach
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