DEP Moves on Leaking Well in Moon

An abandoned natural gas well in Moon Township has drawn a quick response from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The well, which has been inactive for a long time, sits in a wooded area on private property about a thousand feet from the J.A. Allard Elementary School. Last fall a man clearing brush happened upon the well and earlier this month the DEP started receiving a flurry of odor complaints. DEP spokesperson Helen Humphreys says typically these kinds of wells do not pose a risk, but in this case the gas seems to be pressurized so they are acting quickly to plug it. Humphreys says the problem of leaking abandoned wells is pervasive in Pennsylvania and the state has a fund set up to pay for their maintenance. She says crews are already on the scene and it could take one to two weeks to plug and even longer if they run into unexpected problems.