Media Contact:
Camila Ruiz Gallardo, Communications Director, camilarg@earthworksaction.org
Governor Shapiro has positioned Pennsylvania to lead the nation in plugging and cleaning up pollution from orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells. While we would have liked his 2024 budget address to highlight the urgency of cutting methane through this and other measures that reduce oil and gas pollution, we are encouraged by the steps his administration is taking to reduce harm to public health and climate through well-plugging.
Earthworks is committed to addressing the root causes that have led to hundreds of thousands of abandoned wells across the commonwealth while creating high-quality, well-plugging jobs, and we appreciate the governor’s prioritization of this issue. We look forward to working with the Shapiro administration to ensure impacted communities benefit from these investments while holding the oil and gas industry accountable for their pollution.
The Governor’s proposal to increase funding for Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection to hire environmental justice experts and conduct long-term air quality studies is critical to help keep Pennsylvania families safe from oil and gas pollution. We are hopeful that the Governor will consider further investment in staffing for enforcement and compliance at the Department.