Last year, the Republican-controlled legislature passed a law freezing bond amounts for conventional wells.
A gas driller in Dimock, Pennsylvania polluted the surrounding water supply and residents have been fighting for almost 14 years for clean water.
Pa. estimates there are more than 200,000 abandoned wells. Hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal infrastructure bill could help the state put a dent in plugging them.
Pennsylvania gas wells produced about 7.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2020 ā the largest volume of natural gas ever produced in the state in a single year.
The state stopped the practice in 2018, but a measure in the state legislature this year would bring it back for conventional drillers.
Pennsylvaniaās highest court has delivered a victory for natural gas exploration firms, ruling that the state attorney generalās office doesnāt have authority under state law to sue them on anti-trust grounds over their mineral rights-leasing practices.
Fettermanās advocacy won him the endorsement from the union representing Edgar Thomson workers. But environmental groups say candidates canāt make promises to the climate movement while also supporting fracking jobs.
