Quote:
Originally Posted by Geraldsh
If there is no hope of reactivating them they get tossed onto the abandoned well pile....
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No.
There is a lot of confusion here about orphaned, vs inactive, vs abandoned well.
Inactive wells are just wells that aren't flowing. They still belong to and are the responsibility of the owner.
Abandoned wells, are wells that have been properly sealed up and capped. Abandoned wells don't require much, if any further work or action. The next step would be reclamation of the surface site, which is usually not expensive.
Orphan wells are wells that need to be abandoned, but the owner is no longer in business. This is what the orphaned well fund is for.
So no, even if there is no hope of wells ever being reactivated, they do not go onto the "Abandoned" pile, and I'm sure what you really meant was "Orphaned", and I assume you also meant are taxpayers on the hook for the costs to abandon them. No, whoever the owner is would be required to abandon them, provided they still exist.
Hope that helps.