Shapiro touts capping of 300th well in North Franklin Township
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro appeared in Washington County Wednesday to mark his administration capping its 300th abandoned well.
The well is located behind North Franklin Township’s municipal building at 345 Franklin Farms Road. Shapiro was joined by Bob Sabot, the chair of North Franklin’s board of supervisors.
Sabot noted that the township has big plans for the area near the well.
“All of this is going to become walking trails through here. We have pavilions and parks to build,” Sabot said.
According to Sabot, it will take Penn Mechanical Group about three weeks to finish capping the well.
Shapiro touted his administration’s work in capping orphaned and abandoned wells, including 100 in the past year alone. He said these wells leak methane gas, which has an adverse effect on the environment, and that plugging them will improve public health and farming conditions.
“You got people going to work to do this important work every day that puts food on their tables for them and their families. We have the opportunity to get out and enjoy the wonderful, beautiful outdoors, especially in this southwestern corner of Pennsylvania that’s just so unbelievably beautiful,” Shapiro said.
He pointed to the lake near the well and described how the leaking methane is “bubbling beneath the surface.”
“When we cap that well, when we stop that methane from leaking, we can stock that fish … We can bring people back outside. We can enjoy the beauty of our communities. We can do right by our planet. We can do right by the people that are doing this work, and we can create another area of opportunity right here in Washington County,” Shapiro said.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund, who was represented at Wednesday’s event, there are 8,840 abandoned wells currently documented. Shapiro said they need the public’s help in alerting the state’s Department of Environmental protection to wells they have not yet identified.
“We know that we’ve got a lot of wells out there. We also know that we don’t know where all of them are. A lot of the mapping that we have for these old wells is just that, old,” Shapiro said. “We need your help. If you stumble across an orphaned or abandoned well, alert DEP. Don’t assume they know it’s there.”