ACTION: Interested in joining the national mobilization to make the unfracking method a reality? If yes, join OpenAir's discord here: https://openaircollective.cc/join/?mi...
SUMMARY:
Orphan wells are abandoned oil and gas wells that have no owner, and create an unacceptably high risk of toxic chemical exposure and water and air quality contamination in the communities where they are located. They are also a major source of methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that methane emissions from over 2 million inactive, unplugged wells, of which documented orphan wells are a subset, range from a CO2 equivalent of 7-20 million metric tons per year (approximately the emissions of 2 to 5 million cars) (EDF 2022) Unfracking is a method of plugging orphan wells similar to current oil and gas well plugging but adds biocarbon, in the form of biochar, to sequester carbon in the ground, make a stronger plug, and mitigate the ongoing climate effects of leaking wells.
In this action webinar Colorado-based OpenAir advocate Janis Hallowell and engineer Wei Li, Ph.D will provide an overview of:
1. The orphan well challenge in the United States
2. The Unfracking design approach and potential impact
3. New state legislation in Colorado that aims to study and specify biochar use in local well plugging; and how this legislation can be adapted and advanced in other orphan-well heavy states.
Session Links
- Janis Hallowell's 10 minute Unfracking overeview https://openaircollective.cc/video/un...
- Colorado Legislation (HB-23) to Study biochar orphan application https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb23-1069
- HB-23 Fact Sheet https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...
- EDF State and National Fact Sheets on Orphan Wells https://www.edf.org/orphanwellmap
- Peer reviewed article on benefits of biochar mix with cement https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
- Peer reviewed article on benefits of biochar as methane oxidation agent in anaerobic conditions https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs....