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Colorado Governor Takes Steps To End Orphaned Wells

DENVER (CBS4) - Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order to deal with oil and gas wells that have been abandoned across the state.

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The order covers more than 260 orphaned wells and 360 orphaned sites, from which the parent companies apparently walked away. It calls for the reduction of these high- and medium priority sites to zero. It calls on the oil and gas industry to plug, remediate, and reclaim all of their well sites. And it puts a system in place to prevent orphan wells and sites in the future.

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"This is an effort to get way out ahead of an issue before it becomes a problem. Again, many of these wells could go another 10 or 20 years without having to go in there and make sure it's thoroughly sealed. But the proven way to go about this is to make sure you don't have any medium-or-high priority wells that haven't been reclaimed," said Hickenlooper at the signing ceremony.

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The executive order comes after a review of all the oil & gas sites in the state. The Governor ordered the review in the aftermath of the Firestone house explosion in 2017 that killed Joey Irwin and Mark Martinez and injured Erin Martinez.

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"The order announced today will accelerate our ongoing work to properly plug and safeguard orphaned wells," said Julie Murphy, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

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The Commission will make the list of known orphan sites by August 1, 2018. The list will be updated annually after that.

"We appreciate Governor Hickenlooper's collaboration with Colorado's natural gas and oil industry to enact long-term solutions to this and any such issues facing our state. Our industry is fully committed to operating under the highest standards when it comes to environmental protection and we welcome the Governor's directive today," said Tracee Bentley, the executive director of the Colorado Petroleum Council.

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