The wilderness of Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge has become familiar to Curtis Shuck. Since moving to Okmulgee County in January, the nonprofit founder has covered miles of forest ground wearing non-flammable coveralls and a hard hat.
Shuck isn’t seeking tranquility in nature but identifying rusted and corroded pump jacks, tank batteries and pipes protruding from the earth. Some of the infrastructure dates back more than a century and represents the last of the oil and gas industry’s presence on the land.
At least 112 abandoned oil and gas wells remain in the wildlife refuge after its establishment in 1993. Over the next four years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Well Done Foundation will plug the wells at certain depths to halt gas leakage and reforest the sites. Shuck, who heads the foundation, said the entities will also address leftover wells at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Vian.
“It's all this notion of enhancing the experience for taxpayers and access to public lands,” said Shuck, who also serves as the chairman of Well Done.
Oil and gas production in the Deep Fork area slowed in the 1930s, according to FWS, and many of the forests’ trees were felled for timber. The area got a second life 60 years later when the federal land was acquired, creating the refuge and protecting the Deep Fork River and wildlife.
Still, the long-abandoned wells remain in the forest and submerged in water.
Environmental and health threats leaking from the open earth are primary drivers for the cleanup. Abandoned wells emit hazardous gases into the atmosphere and have the potential to leak hydrogen sulfide, which is flammable and toxic. Many of the sites in Deep Fork emit methane, Shuck said, a potent greenhouse gas known to contribute to rising global temperatures.
Well Done’s brand and messaging are explicit about the relationship between abandoned wells and climate change, pointing to plugging as a solution to limiting emissions and global warming.
“Whether you're a climate crusader or a climate denier or you're a Democrat or a Republican or a catholic or a protestant, it really doesn't matter,” Shuck said. “Our mission is focused on doing the right thing and leaving things better than the way they are.”
Part of the project will restore the sites to their natural states. Shuck said he’s working with biologists from the federal wildlife agency to reforest the plots once the wells are capped and secured. The bottomland hardwood forest is a critical habitat, he said, and the foundation is cautious about disturbing it.
In 2022, FWS announced it would use money from the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act to plug some of the wells in Deep Fork. Well Done plans to address more sites using some of the grant funds and money from its foundation. President Donald Trump halted the dispersal of unspent grants under the law in January, though Shuck said the Deep Fork project already received its sum.
“It's very unlikely that there's any more funding coming, right?” Shuck said. “Which means that we really have to be thoughtful and good stewards with the money that we've got right now and use it to the fullest extent, to the best way we can.”
The work on Oklahoma’s federal lands differs from plugging abandoned oil and gas wells under the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC.) The state uses an excise tax on producers to hire contractors and plug abandoned wells found on private land. The OCC also received money from the Infrastructure Law to remediate the state’s widespread issue, though the full amount has not yet been awarded.
The U.S. Geological Survey is also assisting Shuck’s team while it investigates the wells for methane leakage. Nick Gianoutsos, a scientist with the agency, said he plans to use some of the new data for future projects.
“We're particularly interested in working together in the Deep Fork National (Wildlife) Refuge, where leaking orphan wells are located in a wetland environment,” he said.
In February, Gianoutsos and others with USGS developed a map showing 117,672 orphan wells nationwide, with a suspected 250,000 to 740,000 additional undocumented sites. Oklahoma has more than 20,000 abandoned wells, according to the OCC. That number is increasing as the state’s population climbs and more of the infrastructure is discovered.
Shuck began working in the oil and gas industry in the 1980s and later helped farmers with grain shipping in Montana. In July 2019, an abandoned well on farming land unsettled him. With the help of his wife, Stacey Shuck, he said the Well Done Foundation was established within a day.
“ My initial reaction wasn't, ‘Oh, the world is ending,’” Shuck said. “It was like, ‘Man, this is embarrassing. Somebody's got to clean this up.’”
The partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also taking place in Oregon and Montana, though Shuck said residents of Oklahoma have shown particular support for the project. The foundation is working with local pluggers, he said, and is looking for interns from nearby universities.
“ Here in Okmulgee County and in the city of Okmulgee, it's just been super refreshing to see that level of acceptance and people leaning in and going out of their way to help us,” he said.
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