Orphaned oil wells are among the trees and sticking out of the Deep Fork River at the wildlife refuge.
Wells like these pose a big risk to groundwater quality and environmental safety, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Nationwide, the survey has documented more than 117,000 orphaned wells, but there are potentially 250,000 to 750,000 undocumented wells. Oklahoma has about 20,000 abandoned wells, according to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
In a two-week window, Curtis Shuck, the Well Done Foundation's founder, said the organization has three wells on the target list in the area but there's also a fourth "bonus well" that could be plugged if there is time.
This is part of a larger, four-year project and the group has a goal of plugging at least 25 wells per year over the time frame. Although the group started the project about seven months ago, he said they did not begin plugging until March.
"So we're actually a little ahead of the game in terms of our plugging schedule," Shuck said while driving his truck to an abandoned well south of Okmulgee.
He said it usually takes about a week, 20 people and tens of thousands of dollars for the group to plug a well. But that timeframe can change depending on the well and its location.
To find the wells, the foundation uses available documents. Workers on a project drive out to an area and then try to find the abandoned well.
While working at a site, Shuck hauls a gas analyzer over to the well. It's a machine used to measure how much methane is belching from a pipe sticking out of the ground.
"OK, so that's one of our key performance indicators to the project is to talk about how much methane the result of our work is eliminating from the stream, or the potential for the stream," Shuck said. "Just because the well may not be leaking today doesn't mean that tomorrow won't be a different story."
There are several steps taken to cap a well. Peter Norton, retired petroleum geologist and a board member of the foundation, said after using a fluid to create hydrostatic pressure to hold the natural gas in the formation.
A cable is fed down the roughly 2,100-foot-deep well bore and goes through other steps before capping it with plugging material.
"Because of the pressure that we have in the well they're going to have to do little special steps to properly plug it," Norton said.
At another area in the refuge, workers for the foundation searched for bedrock beside the Deep Fork River's steep banks. This is so they can stabilize the ground to bring equipment to build a structure to reach a nearby orphan well jutting out of the waterway.
"The deal was back in the day, the riverbank was out there, right? And now the riverbank is not out there. It's over here, right?" Shuck said.
After checking on this site, he and Norton hop in trucks to drive to another well. This one is also in the river.
After winding through trees, they rappel down the river's bank and climb across a ladder to stare down the well. A road to the area and a structure around will have to be built to start work.
"And this is actually our planned first well in the river," Shuck said. "So as soon as I can get a crew broke free to get over here and start shaking out those mats, that's exactly what we're going to do."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
