Ohio is currently dealing with the issue of orphan wells, which is a cause for concern. Orphan wells are old oil wells abandoned by their previous owners due to exhaustion of oil and gas in that area or the bankruptcy of the company that owned the well.
These 19,000 abandoned wells are problematic due to many reasons:
Thus the question arose whether or not the great State of Ohio should take up the burden of plugging these abandoned oil wells before it becomes a danger.
The issue boils down to one singular topic, the responsibility of the State to protect the safety and welfare of its people and land. However, the implementation of this responsibility is not straightforward, and the issue lingered even today. Firstly, it is only natural that the company that benefited greatly from the land is responsible for ensuring the wells they’ve created are plugged up after use. However, how can companies fulfill this responsibility when the reason for their closure is bankruptcy due to failures, market fluctuations, and financial losses?
Costs of plugging these wells range from $5,000 to tens of thousands of dollars, especially with deep and elaborate wells. For a company in the red, putting up $5,000 can be impossible, and it may take years, if not decades, for them to start. However, the dangerous nature of orphan wells is a concern that cannot be ignored by a state dedicated to guaranteeing the safety and welfare of its populace.
Thus, the State should take on the task and spearhead a concerted effort to “adopt” these orphan wells and make Ohio safe. Furthermore, they should prevent companies from abandoning their excavations haphazardly, without any responsibility to ensure the safety of their wells for the general public long after they are gone.
Though many may contest that the companies that owned the wells should be solely responsible, the State must always be ready to jump in to compensate for the failures of defunct businesses. However, it is not right that funds for orphan well plugging must come from the people of Ohio.
Industries that exploit nature and extract coal, oil, and natural gas from it must restore the land to its natural State after they have completed their business. Thus the state legislature needs to draft policies to ensure energy industries allocate funds for the eventual plugging of these wells.
So, it is not a question of whether or not Ohio should help or not. They should enforce a policy that will make companies responsible for the nature they are exploiting. Ohio must continually take care of the land entrusted to them by the constitution and the people.
This includes the maintenance of its nature, before and after it has provided the necessities of modern society to survive. Therefore, Ohio should not wait and step in immediately to help plug the oil wells before it is too late.
