Landowners may be able to plug wells
Staff writer
Kansas Corporation Commission has proposed a plan that would allow landowners to be reimbursed for plugging abandoned wells on their property.
“This is especially important for farmers who often must farm around any abandoned wells left on their land,” KCC conservation division director Ryan Hoffman testified last week before a legislative committee on administrative rules and regulations. “Allowing individuals to be reimbursed for plugging those abandoned wells should help abandoned wells get plugged more quickly, thereby freeing up arable land for farming and generally having a positive economic impact on the state.”
Landowners interested in plugging wells on their land would first have to submit an application for reimbursement before plugging the well.
If the application is approved, the landowner would have to follow all KCC rules and regulations.
An approved contractor would have to do the actual work.
It’s not certain how many abandoned (sometimes called “zombie”) wells are in Marion County.
“It’s kind of a moving target, if you will,” said Linda Berry, director of public affairs for KCC.
KCC is working to find out how many abandoned wells there are.
“KCC is currently investigating, and Marion County is on the list,” emergency manager Marcy Hostetler said Thursday. “I spoke with them on Oct. 3, and they are aware of the active wells but would need to send investigators to the county to find all the abandoned wells. There is currently not a complete and accurate list of all abandoned wells.”
Nearly two dozen abandoned oil and gas wells were known to exist six years ago in the northeastern portion of Marion County.
At that time, three were deemed threats because of a danger of ignition, and 20 were thought to create impacts on groundwater areas.