Orphan oil well capped by joint effort

Meadville Tribune, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·2 min read

Aug. 4—WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Erie. County — An orphaned oil well in Erie County located near a major tributary to French Creek has been plugged via a joint effort of the French Creek Valley Conservancy (FCVC) of Meadville and the Well Done Foundation.

The Martha Smith #1 orphaned oil well near Waterford, was threatening the waters of LeBoeuf Creek, a major tributary to French Creek, according to the conservancy.

Located on the conservancy's 45-acre Smith Tract property, the well originally was drilled in 1982. The Smith Tract property was donated to the conservancy in 2009 as a conserved natural area.

The conservancy and the foundation successfully completed plugging the well and restored the surface area around it, according to Brenda Costa, the conservancy's executive director.

Estimated cost of the plugging of the project was $120,000 — an amount that was cost-prohibitive for the conservancy alone, Costa said, adding that the well would have remained orphaned for many more years without the partnership with the foundation.

"The impact of the Well Done Foundation selecting our project is tremendous," Costa said. "This well had the potential to significantly harm the waterways, habitat and wildlife we work hard to conserve."

The conservancy is an accredited land trust dedicated to protecting the French Creek Watershed. It has more than 3,000 acres of land throughout the watershed, conserving the creek while providing recreational access.

"Our partnership with the FCVC has been incredibly productive because that organization and ours share very compatible missions," Curtis Shuck, the foundation's chairman, said. "We're proud to have worked with them on the Martha Smith well and hope to partner on future projects."

Formed in 2019, the Well Done Foundation, based in Shelby, Montana, enables the oil and gas industry to partner with conservation community and others to transition orphaned well sites.

Work will continue at the site next month during the conservancy's annual French Creek Cleanup on Sept. 10. On that day, about 40 volunteers will be there to restore and revegetate the area that was disturbed during the plugging operation.