Pennsylvania Democrats voted Tuesday to advance legislation that would resurrect regulators’ ability to address the commonwealth’s orphaned and abandoned oil and gas well crisis after that power was stripped last year.
Altogether, there are estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000 orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania — they pose risks of explosion to surrounding communities, and they leak methane, a planet-warming greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere and toxins into nearby homes and waterways.
