GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A pair of abandoned oil wells that were leaking into a lake at an Ottawa County park have been cleaned out and capped off.
The wells in the Bend Area Open Space Park started noticeably leaking on April 10, 2023, when a kayaker spotted an oil sheen on the lake. More than a year later, the two shafts were plugged by a state contractor in October 2024.
The completed work wasn't announced by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) until February 4, 2025.
Getting to the wells was a challenge from the start, with heavy flooding around the park blocking access to the lake. Emergency crews had to rely on boats and drones to inspect the lake in the first days following the leak's detection.
Officials say the flooding was likely the cause for the leak, as the lake rose above the tops of the well caps.
Nearly 300 yards of the lake's shoreline was impacted by oil.
At first Ottawa County took the lead on clean up and capping the wells, but on August 10, 2023 the state took over management of the wells as part of a multi-million dollar settlement with the company which owned the wells. 19 other wells across Ottawa and Calhoun counties were also turned over to the state as part of the deal.
In 2024 EGLE's Geologic Resources Management Division sent a team with a pair of contractors to plug the wells that still sat below the water.
Crews built a boat launch to put a barge carrying a drilling rig into the water. From July to October they worked to clean out the wells, pour cement down its length, and cut down the exposed well casings that had stood nearly 15 feet out of the water at normal depths. The new caps now sit just above the lake bottom.
Inspectors say that only one of the wells had ever been active. Known as Van Single 1 and 2, both were drilled out in 1940 to a depth of 1,750 feet. Number 1 was an active well until 1975; number 2 was a dry well and plugged the same year it was created.
After the wells were abandoned, a gravel pit was dug around them. The pit closed decades later, with the property becoming the Bend Area Open Space Park.
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