We always knew $400 million in federal funding wasn’t going to be enough to cap all of the orphaned wells in Pennsylvania.

But what’s going on right now is, frankly, ridiculous.

A process that the state and private companies have used for years averages about $6,350 to $17,000 per well that is capped depending on size, location and what actually has to be done to cap the well. The federal money, so far, is averaging about $105,000 for each well capped.

That’s absurd. And it really hurts Warren County, which has thousands of these uncapped wells emitting methane and other gasses into the atmosphere.

Arthur Stewart, president of Cameron Energy Company and secretary of the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil Coalition, testified during a recent state Legislature hearing there are ways to cut those costs.

Stewart argues the state Department of Environmental Protection needs to cut red tape, break out plugging contracts into smaller packages so smaller pluggers could bid on contracts, and add more flexibility to the program. Onerous rules for strict compliance that require pluggers to use filter socks and gravel roads that go unused drive up costs, he said.

Another issue is using funds to plug wells instead of for “tangents” like finding new ones.

“We don’t need to find another 200,000 wells when the federal money’s not going to come close to plugging the 30,000 wells that we know about?” Stewart said. “DEP doesn’t need to spend money finding more orphan wells, they’re out there in abundance. Today is not the day to waste money cataloging more wells.”

Bryce Yeager, vice president for the eastern U.S. for BioSqueeze, argued Pennsylvania needs to embrace new technologies for plugging, modernize existing regulations, and improve training of DEP staff.

All are good suggestions that should be considered. Every dollar needlessly spent looking for new wells or building access roads that aren’t going to be used again is money that can’t be spent capping a well that we know about. The $400 million in federal funding to cap orphan wells should make a serious dent in the number of orphan wells both in Warren County and across the commonwealth.

We won’t have another opportunity like this again, so the state and federal governments have to make sure the money is spent on orphaned wells and not satisfying onerous regulations.