Apprenticeship program to address abandoned, orphaned wells

The Shapiro administration and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) have partnered to launch a new registered apprenticeship program to train workers to plug oil and gas wells.

The new program, the Gas Well Capping Technician program, is registered with the Department of Labor & Industry’s Apprenticeship and Training Office and will run out of the United Mine Workers of America Career Centers’ Ruff Creek Training Center in Greene County.

The program will teach workers how to plug abandoned and orphaned wells and will address well capping techniques, cement properties and skills, land remediation, and safety.

“We have a huge abandoned well problem in Pennsylvania, and we need qualified and well-trained people to plug them,” Jessica Shirley, Department of Environmental Protection acting secretary, said. “There are more than 350,000 orphaned and abandoned wells across our commonwealth – and they make up nearly 8 percent of our total methane emissions. Sooner or later, every orphaned well is going to be a threat to the environment and public health, and we need people with the skills and training to plug the wells and restore the surrounding landscape. In addition to removing the threat that old wells pose, some active wells could find new life as geothermal wells, capturing buried heat for clean energy.”

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