Proposed legislation aimed at identifying and cleaning “orphaned” oil and gas wells in Colorado is needed to protect Longmont residents from the potential environmental damage caused by energy development, a top city official said this week.
The bill — SB22-198 — creates an orphan well enterprise and appoints an enterprise board to help carry out updated orphaned well financial assurance rules adopted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in March 2022, Jane Turner, Longmont’s oil and gas coordinator, said via email.
The City Council this week unanimously voted to support the bill’s passage. The measure passed the state senate and is now under consideration in the Colorado House of Representatives.
An oil and gas well is classified as an “orphan” when no owner, or responsible party is capable of covering the cost of plugging, reclamation and remediation of the well, Turner said. COGCC prioritizes the order in which orphaned wells will be plugged or remediated by evaluating the level of risk as well presents to the health of nearby residents and ecosystems, Turner said.
The enterprise board ensures that the costs associated with the plugging, reclaiming and remediating of orphaned wells are borne by operators through mitigation fees; determining the amounts of mitigation fees; and imposing and collecting mitigation fees, according to the legislation.
Longmont has over 30 plugged oil and gas wells within city limits and none of them are currently designated as “orphan wells”, Longmont Assistant City Manager Sandy Seader told the city council earlier this week.
The status of orphaned wells could change, Turner said. If, for example, a well was found to have caused environmental contamination and the well owner couldn’t pay, then the well could be designated as orphaned and the COGCC would oversee the cleanup, she said.
The legislation would ensure that there is enough money to properly plug all wells in Colorado that are no longer productive, and to clean up environmental contamination, Turner said.
"These new rules, and the associated orphan well enterprise, have the potential to protect all Colorado taxpayers by limiting the amount the state spends on plugging and remediating orphaned wells,” Turner said.
