The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection are committed to ensuring wells plugged with federal funds are screened for methane and measured in accordance with all applicable federal agency guidelines.
Federal funds are being utilized by PA DEP to set up two separate well plugging programs for both orphan wells and marginal conventional wells (MCWs). The Orphan Well Plugging Program includes the Act 96/136 Orphan Well Plugging Grant program (OWPG) which has been developed with funding awarded from the Department of the Interior (DOI) from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
The Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) is a separate program which provides financial assistance to plug Marginal Conventional Wells (MCWs) with funding awarded from the Department of Energy (DOE) from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Both DOI and DOE have released similar, but separate methane measurement guidelines given the distinctions between orphan and MCWs. Additional supplemental guidelines have been developed by PA DEP to provide an overview to encompass both federal guidelines.
Orphan wells, including those plugged under the Act 96/136 Orphan Well Plugging grant with IIJA funds are subject to the DOI’s guidelines. Marginal Conventional Wells plugged with the MERP grant using IRA funds are subject to the DOE’s guidelines. Please see the links in the accordion below to view these guidelines.
To further ensure compliance and transparency, DEP has developed two required forms. The Methane Measurement Proposal form has been developed to verify the methodology being used in addition to the qualifications of the methane measurement specialist. In addition, the Methane Measurement Report form has been developed to obtain data and measurements from all plugging projects where there was a detection of methane.