Shapiro announces apprenticeship program to plug abandoned oil and gas wells

The Shapiro Administration and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) recently announced a new registered apprenticeship program to train workers to plug oil and gas wells. The administration touted the move as way to protect the environment and public health “while providing workers with in-demand skills and family-sustaining wages.”

The new program will be run out of the United Mine Workers of America Career Centers, Inc.’s (UMWACC) Ruff Creek Training Center in Greene County.

UMWACC’s Gas Well Capping Technician program is reportedly the first-ever registered apprenticeship program for UMWA. The program will teach workers how plug abandoned and orphaned wells that have the potential to cause health, safety, or environmental concerns and to mitigate harmful emissions.

“We have a huge abandoned well problem in Pennsylvania, and we need qualified and well-trained people to plug them. There are more than 350,000 orphaned and abandoned wells across our Commonwealth — and they make up nearly 8% of our total methane emissions,” said Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley. “Sooner or later, every orphaned well is going to be a threat to the environment and public health, and we need people with the skills and training to plug the wells and restore the surrounding landscape. In addition to removing the threat that old wells pose, some active wells could find new life as geothermal wells, capturing buried heat for clean energy.”

The Gas Well Capping Technician program is registered with the Apprenticeship and Training Office (ATO), housed within the Department of Labor & Industry (L&I), and will train workers on the following topics: safety, well capping techniques, cement properties and skills, and land remediation.

“The Shapiro Administration is committed to addressing the needs of in-demand industries and preparing workers with the skills needed to be successful in our workforce,” said L&I Secretary Nancy A. Walker. “The Registered Apprenticeship Occupation of Well Capping Technicians program offers a solution to both of those goals, by providing real career opportunities for individuals dedicated to the environmental and public health of our Commonwealth.”

“This is a positive step toward addressing unemployment in Appalachia’s coal mining communities,” said UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts. “The program will not only help stop leaking gas and oil wells but also provide workers with family-sustaining wages. Capping abandoned and orphaned wells is expected to take decades.”

In 2022 the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded Pennsylvania an initial grant of $25 million to plug orphaned and abandoned gas wells. According to Shapiro’s announced, the DEP has plugged more than 250 wells since he took office, more than have been plugged over the last nine years combined. More information about the orphan and abandoned well plugging program is on the DEP website.