This week, Colorado Sun Health and Environment Reporter Michael Booth joined us to discuss a new Colorado State University study that found oil wells near Denver are releasing 142% more pollution per hour than the state average. The largest well is leaking 165 pounds of methane per hour — methane is a potent greenhouse gas.
The so-called “super emitters” in Adams County are the worst polluters among abandoned and unplugged wells around the state. 108 plugged wells were also tested as part of the CSU study, and Booth told KUNC “those are doing great” with zero emissions.
“The problem is, the 226 unplugged wells that have been abandoned – they are called shut-in, meaning that the oil companies aren't making money from them,” Booth said. “They're stripper wells, making 15 barrels of oil equivalent a day or less out of the ground.”
Colorado is working on a plan to plug shut-in wells faster. Booth said the process produces a barrier to contain emissions as opposed to just turning everything off.
“When you abandon a well and don't plug it, really you are just shutting off the valves and walking away like you would turn off a faucet,” He said.
Booth told KUNC the valves corrode, leading to leaks.
“What you really need to do is take out some of the mechanisms, plug it with concrete or with other substances that really plug up that entire well, and it can last for decades if it's done right,” he said.
The state aims to get wells plugged faster now that it has new methane detection equipment, paid for with a grant from the Inflation Reduction Act. In Adams County, officials have identified eight of the worst-polluting wells and four of those are now plugged. Booth said the other four are scheduled to be plugged "as soon as possible." However, there are still almost 300 orphaned wells in Adams County alone.
“I think what the Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which manages this process of shutting down wells needs to do a better job of is explaining to the public why this can't happen faster,” Booth said. “You've got these major oil companies. Some of the wells are abandoned by small companies that can't make the money or they're bankrupt, so they walk away.”
Those wells are often eventually taken over by major companies like Anadarko Petroleum, which is now owned by Occidental.
“And so it would appear that there is money available to plug wells and that it might be time for the government and for private researchers to get together and figure out how it can be done faster,” Booth said.
