Tag: Editorials

The government often is too quick to commit to spending money and too slow at nearly everything else. Between the federal and state governments, hundreds of millions of dollars have been committed to plugging “orphan” wells — oil and gas wells abandoned decades ago by now-defunct companies, without the necessary remediation to prevent or mitigate environmental damage. There are 350,000 such wells in Pennsylvania. Or perhaps there are more than 700,000 such wells in Pennsylvania. It will cost about $18,000 to plug each well. Or $33,000. Or $68,000. Or it might cost $110,000 each for some of the more difficult wells. That, according to a Center Square article in Friday’s edition of the Sun-Gazette,...