NY orphan-well plugging progress (Sep 2025)

Record: p09-NY-rec-02
State: NY
Category: outcomes · program_outcome
Status: collected
Period: current
Quality: Unreviewed
Review state: Pending review
Native ID: NY-ORPHAN-PROGRESS-2025-09

Fields

first well: Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the completion of the first gas well safely plugged with funding from a $25 million federal grant to New York State through the landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
first well date: October 25, 2023
first well place: Successful Project Completed in Erie County, Others Underway with Landowner Cooperation in Western, Central, and Northern New York
operations window: Well plugging operations commenced on August 2, 2023 and were completed September 18, 2025.
statewide estimate: Approximately 35,000 orphaned wells are estimated to exist in New York State
wells plugged total: In total, DEC and its contractors have plugged 34 high-priority orphaned wells.

Evidence

first well: Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the completion of the first gas well safely plugged with funding from a $25 million federal grant to New York State through the landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
https://governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-milestone-completion-first-orphan-well · lead paragraph (notes Q08) · source p09-NY-src-05 · visit p09-NY-visit-05
first well date: October 25, 2023
https://governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-milestone-completion-first-orphan-well · dateline (notes Q09) · source p09-NY-src-05 · visit p09-NY-visit-05
first well place: Successful Project Completed in Erie County, Others Underway with Landowner Cooperation in Western, Central, and Northern New York
https://governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-milestone-completion-first-orphan-well · subheading (notes Q10) · source p09-NY-src-05 · visit p09-NY-visit-05
operations window: Well plugging operations commenced on August 2, 2023 and were completed September 18, 2025.
https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/oil-gas/orphaned-abandoned-well-plugging/iija-state-initial-grant-well-plugging · search-result snippet (notes Q11) · source p09-NY-src-02 · visit p09-NY-visit-02
wells plugged total: In total, DEC and its contractors have plugged 34 high-priority orphaned wells.
https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/oil-gas/orphaned-abandoned-well-plugging/iija-state-initial-grant-well-plugging · search-result snippet (notes Q12) · source p09-NY-src-02 · visit p09-NY-visit-02
statewide estimate: Approximately 35,000 orphaned wells are estimated to exist in New York State
https://organicfood.einnews.com/pr_news/919858765/dec-does-what-podcast-episode-36-abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-meet-the-team-tracking-these-hidden-hazards · search-result snippet (notes Q13) · source p09-NY-src-13 · visit p09-NY-visit-13

Provenance

Collected 2026-10-05 by agent p09-NY.