Debris and tank removal
Intrigued, she decided first to adopt a well so that she would understand the process from start to finish. “I wanted to go through the physical process of adopting and plugging the well and restoring the surface landscape,” she said. “I had no idea how toxic the situation surrounding these open wells is. The gaping hole in the ground, the smell, and the invisible gas can’t be described in a photograph.” Kent adopted Allen #31-8 in Northern Montana’s Oil Patch. Drilled in 1971, it was abandoned in 1987; plugging it eliminated 5,827.41 metric tons of emissions per year, which is equal to removing 1,425 automobiles from the road yearly. From the 1920s to the 1970s, when oil was booming in Northern Montana, oil companies preyed on the constant financial struggle of farmers by convincing them to sign leases to the mineral rights on their land. For a while, the farmers did indeed make money from these leases – sometimes as much as $700 per week from the oil company. But as the oil industry waned, or the wells ran dry, the oil companies simply abandoned the wells, allowing them to become idle or sit dormant. They took no responsibility for cleanup, restoration, or the emissions of harmful greenhouse gases that continued to leach into the atmosphere. Many of the companies that leased mineral rights from Montana farmers in the 1900s went bankrupt or out of business, so ownership of the idle and abandoned wells reverted to the state.
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The Well Done team identifies abandoned or orphaned oil wells around the state, selects one to be decommissioned, and posts a financial bond with the state’s Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, allowing the state to track the process. The foundation then enters into agreements with the landowners for access to the well. They spend the next nine months researching, monitoring, and measuring the well’s emissions, studying its construction, and developing a plugging plan that is ultimately submitted to the state for approval. The foundation then works with the state, county commissioners, private entities, and the landowners to plug the well and remove abandoned pipes and machinery, returning the land to its predrilling condition. The entire process costs approximately $30,000. Plugging a well involves a special cementing process that extends 1,550 feet underground and all the way up to the surface before it is finally capped and the methane emissions are stopped. Once a well is thoroughly decommissioned (plugged and capped), then the surface restoration can begin so that the landowner can put the land back into productive use again. The foundation has a 10-year post-closure monitoring program where the plugged well is studied to ensure that methane gas doesn’t continue to leak. The foundation is just getting started, working on raising awareness and decommissioning more than 200 wells in Toole County,
Testing for emissions
Montana, and across the state. “It’s such a wonderful opportunity, something we can do right now that immediately changes the future,” Kent tells us with enthusiasm. “This is a perfect fit for me. I care about the environment, future of the climate, Montana, and land for horses. Since becoming a member of the board, I’m working hard to create awareness about orphan wells and how meaningful plugging each of them can be for greenhouse gas emissions.” Kent hopes to reach out to companies in the equestrian and outdoor industries to get involved in well-plugging efforts through volunteer work or donations. There is even a program to purchase carbon credits to offset usage and operate as a carbon neutral company. Kent’s 23-year-old son just graduated university with a degree in Forestry and a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. He hopes to join the Well Done team to use that technology to map abandoned wells, and determine their emission levels, in the 20 states where these orphaned wells exist. So far, 3.2 million wells have been identified and are emitting 120 million metric tons of emissions per year. As awareness spreads, the hope is that more and more young people like Kent’s son will get involved, and impact climate change positively for their future. “But right now,” says Kent, “we will fight climate change one well at a time.”
