Orphan Oil and Gas Well Prevention Act
Senate Bill 11 creates the Orphan Oil and Gas Well Prevention Act of 2025, a new article in West Virginia law aimed at preventing oil and gas wells from becoming orphaned and abandoned without a responsible operator able to pay for plugging and reclamation. The bill states a public policy preference for plugging wells that no longer have present or future economic use in order to reduce air and groundwater contamination, surface pollution, interference with coal and other mineral development, and harm to surface property owners.
The bill would require new wells filed after July 1, 2025 to be backed either by a full-cost single-well plugging bond or by a plugging money set-aside escrow account held by the State Treasurer. It also extends similar financial assurance requirements to transferred wells, and it provides that an assigning operator remains liable until the new owner or operator posts the required bond or escrow. For wells that are still producing in paying quantities, the bill requires operators to contribute to a plugging set-aside fund based on production volumes, with specified rates for gas, oil, and natural gas liquids.
SB11 also creates a State Treasurer-administered escrow system for plugging funds, with the Office of Oil and Gas determining payment schedules and overseeing use of the money for plugging when a well is abandoned or when the operator fails to act. The bill authorizes the Treasurer to invest the funds, deduct administrative costs, and adopt rules to implement the program. It further requires a driller seeking a new permit to agree to plug orphaned and abandoned wells in the drainage area that will be drained by the new well, and it allows cost recovery from responsible parties under the Abandoned Well Act.
The bill would also allow surface owners to consent to deferring plugging of a well, so long as the chief of the Office of Oil and Gas finds no significant current or imminent risk and no affected owner or interest holder objects. In addition, if a transferred well must be plugged because of a prior operator’s violation or imprudent conduct, the prior operator may remain responsible if the current operator does not plug it. Overall, the bill would add a new regulatory and financial framework to West Virginia’s oil and gas permitting, transfer, and plugging laws.
The general sentiment reflected in the bill text is strongly supportive of stronger orphan-well prevention and environmental protection, with an emphasis on shifting plugging responsibility away from the state and onto operators and beneficiaries of production. The bill’s stated purpose and findings frame the measure as a response to inadequacies in current law and as a way to protect health, property rights, groundwater, and future development. No committee debate or votes were provided, so there is no recorded opposition or support beyond the bill’s own policy framing.
SB11 would add a new article to the West Virginia Code governing orphan oil and gas well prevention, creating new permitting conditions, transfer liability rules, production-based escrow obligations, and surface-owner deferral procedures. It would affect operators, drillers, surface owners, the State Treasurer, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Office of Oil and Gas, while also interacting with existing bonding, plugging, and abandoned-well statutes. The bill would materially expand financial assurance requirements and could increase compliance costs for new and transferred wells, while also creating a dedicated state-held fund for future plugging obligations.
The bill is framed in a strongly pro-environment, pro-surface-owner, and pro-accountability manner, with the stated goal of preventing the state from being left with the cost of plugging orphaned wells. Because no committee transcripts or votes were provided, there is no direct evidence of legislative debate, amendment disputes, or recorded opposition. Based on the text alone, the measure appears designed to address a recognized policy problem and to strengthen oversight rather than to make incremental changes.
The main points of contention likely involve the cost and administrative burden placed on operators, especially the requirement for either a full-cost bond or ongoing escrow payments for each well, and the rule that transferring a well does not relieve the prior operator of liability until the new owner posts security. Another likely area of dispute is the requirement that new drillers plug orphaned and abandoned wells in the drainage area of a proposed well, which could be viewed as a significant added obligation. Surface-owner deferral of plugging may also raise concerns from neighboring mineral owners or environmental interests, since the bill allows deferral only when no affected party objects and no significant risk exists.