Heather Wright/The Independent

An abandoned oil well found at Lambton County’s public works yard in Petrolia is making the replacement of the fuel system there a lot more complex and a lot more expensive.

In 2024, the county set aside $125,000 to replace the underground fuel storage tanks with an above ground pumps on a concrete pad.

As the work was being done in the summer of 2024, soil contamination was found and then later, the wooden casing of an abandoned oil well was exposed.

The public works yard is on Centre Street which was the heart of oil production starting in 1866. Finding abandoned oil wells is not uncommon in the entire town.

Matt Deline, manager of public works, said in a report to county councillors, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry was notified, since it deals with abandoned wells. MNRF staff went to Centre St. and confirmed there were no signs of oil nor was there any gas venting from the former well. “There was no record or information relating to this well with the MNRF,” he said.

MNRF staff said the abandoned well needed to be decommissioned by capping it with cement once a well licence was obtained. That happened late in 2024.

The well decommissioning is expected to be complete late this fall, Deline said.

As the contaminated soil was being investigated, technicians also found the ground water in the area was contaminated.

“Regardless of the source of the soil and groundwater contamination, the county is required to meet all regulatory standards to investigate and delineate the extent of the contamination as much as practical,” says Deline.

Deline says over $89,000 has already been spent on the abandoned well and soil and water contamination. He asked that an addition $250,000 be taken from reserves for the project “specifically to continue with the environmental investigation and to complete the necessary Petrolia Depot site improvements.”

Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Gary Atkinson asked if there was a possibility more contamination would be found.

“We’re doing further investigation to determine the limits of where that material is on the site,” says Jason Cole, general manager of infrastructure and development. “To make sure that we’re doing our due diligence as responsible owners for that site and figuring out the next steps.”

Council’s committee of the whole gave approval to use $250,000 from reserves – a decision which has to be confirmed at the Oct. 1 council meeting.

It’s not clear how long it will take to finish the clean up and install the new fuel system.