“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
A map that shows the locations of Abandoned Wells found by Venango PASEC and wells plugged by DEP
See the Map
Map of the locations of unconventional gas wells and our stream monitoring locations.
(Program ended 2017)
Click on a stream location (star) to get a link to our data.
Stream Monitoring Map
If you discover an abandoned well, DEP is available to ensure that it has been properly identified and that any potential environmental, health and safety issues are addressed. The Northwest office contact is 814.332.6860.
Additionly PennState Extension has introduced a new program to help landowners locate, and document abandoned wells on their property. Through grant funding the Oil Region Alliance will pay $100.00 per well for the first 200 new wells added to the DEP database through the PennState program.
Rusty Relic or Disaster Waiting to Happen: Legacy Wells PennState Extension.For more information or to report abandoned wells, please contact Dan Brockett, or Summer Boyle at PennState Extension .
PennState Extension believes that private land owners are the key to getting the approximately 100,000 - 700,000 undocumented wells into the DEP database. Many landowners know there are abandoned wells on their property but they have been reluctant to get DEP involved due to distrust or liability concerns. The PennState Extension hopes to alleviate those concerns by working directly with land owners.
The following webinar link is a discussion between Penn State Extension and Department of Environmental Protection on land owner rights and responsibilities for abandoned wells on their property.
If you have a well on your land, you are not the well owner (you can be a lease owner), the well has not produced since April 18, 1985, and the well is not currently in the DEP database then you are part of what PennState Extension is looking for.
PennState Extension is currently promoting workshops throughout western PA to encourage landowners to become part of the program. You can contact the PennState Extension for the dates and locations of those workshops. Workshops for the following counties are scheduled. Clarion 7/23, Crawford 7/24 , Mercer 7/28 , and McKean 7/29
To better understand what an abandoned well looks like, and why it's important to have it plugged, take a look at the links under Orphan Wells in the top menu.
Federal money to plug Pa.’s dangerous wells is unfrozen, but Trump admin uncertainty plagues contractors Spotlight PA March 2025
Elevated Levels of Radium Found in Western Pennsylvania’s Freshwater Mussels January 2025
Lee highlights Pennsylvania’s abandoned gas wells problem March 28, 2024
A Pennsylvania Community Wins a Reprieve on Toxic Fracking Wastewater June 13, 2023
Pennsylvania Expects $400 Million in Infrastructure Funds to Begin Plugging Thousands of Abandoned Oil Wells Stacey Burling, June 11, 2023
‘We don’t feel safe’: US community in shock after record methane leak March 6, 2023
Plugging Pennsylvania’s Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells January 27, 2023
Colorado ponders storing carbon in defunct oil and gas wells
PA drillers abandoned thousands of natural gas wells in 5 years, ignored state law, report says January 2023
NETL Story Map Rediscovery of Abandoned Wells in the World's First Oil Field
To find old methane-leaking oil wells, researchers look to history
PA Environmental Digest Blog - Federal Infrastructure Well Plugging (Feb 7, 2022)
Unplugged - Pittsburgh Post Gazette - April 3, 2020
Old oil and gas sites are a climate menace. Meet the company that owns more of America’s decaying wells than any other. By Zachary R. Mider and Rachel Adams-Heard of Bloomberg Green
Video of Methane Hunting trip by Zachary R. Mider and Rachel Adams-Heard of Bloomberg Green
With Billions in Federal Dollars, Will Pennsylvania Finally Cap Its Abandoned, Polluting Oil Wells? (Capital & Main) - December 8, 2021
CBS News Video: Abandoned gas and oil wells becoming an environmental threat in the U.S.
Who owns the stream in PA.
The title to the beds of public waters is held in trust by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the benefit of the public. In case of rivers and streams, the Commonwealth's ownership extends to ordinary low water mark, and the adjacent riparian landowner owns above the low water mark.
Impaired Streams [ Click on number 2, Zoom in, Click on a red stream to get information. ]
Integrated Water Quality Report – 2024
Who owns groundwater in Pennsylvania?
In Pennsylvania, as in most of the Eastern United States, the right to water is not a property right to which title can be acquired, but rather a "right of use" of the water resources, called the "usufructuary right." The usufructuary right is one of those in the bundle of rights that goes with property ownership.
Roadside Springs and other Unsafe Sources Penn State Extension
Pennsylvania confirms first fracking-related earthquakes
Spate of small earthquakes shuts down fracking activity in Lawrence County
Use of any of our photos can be obtained by Contacting Us