Worker files lawsuit one year after orphan well explosion in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest

A year after an orphan well explosion in Wayne National Forest killed two men, a worker who sustained severe burns filed a lawsuit against the companies involved. 

Six contractors from Monroe Drilling Operations LLC were plugging an abandoned well in Washington County inside Wayne National Forest when natural gas and crude oil ignited at the site on Aug 25, 2025. 

Chris Pinkerton and Chris Starkey later died from injuries they sustained in the explosion. Pinkerton died Dec. 14 and Starkey died Oct. 3. 

Chazz Bates filed a lawsuit last month in the Washington County Court of Common Pleas against Monroe Drilling Operations LLC and Formation Cementing Inc. in Zanesville, “alleging their safety failures caused the blast,” according to Bates’ attorneys from Cooper Elliott.

Bates “suffered serious burn injuries” and was treated at the Ohio State Medical Center Burn Unit, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources investigation report. 

The well the workers were trying to plug was through the Ohio’s Orphan Well program and ODNR’s investigation concluded there were “several site safety issues” and “several well control issues.” 

“Upon review of the facts surrounding the incident, the Division (of Oil and Gas Resources Management) has determined the cause of the explosion to be improper implementation of primary and secondary well control barriers by Monroe Drilling on an orphan well with unknown casing integrity and wellbore conditions,” according to ODNR’s investigation report. 

Orphan wells 

An orphan well is an abandoned oil and gas well that has no owner, meaning no one is able to properly plug the well. Many of these wells are more than 100 years old and the original owner has died, companies have gone out of business or records are incomplete. Orphan wells are scored on a risk basis and the highest risk wells are plugged first. 

Ohio’s Orphan Well Program has plugged more than 4,100 abandoned wells since launching in 1977. 

The number of wells plugged in Ohio in recent years, according to the ODNR. 

• 2025: 480
• 2024: 412
• 2023: 323 
• 2022: 176
• 2021: 144 
• 2020: 150 
• 2019: 92
• 2018: 51 
• 2017: 19
• 2016: 7 
• 2015: 7 

Columbiana County had the most wells plugged last year with 63, followed by Washington County with 42, according to ODNR.

An Ohio law was enacted in 2018 that requires the state department of natural resources to spend 30% of the state’s Oil and Gas Well Fund on plugging orphan wells. 

Prior to the law going into effect, ODNR had to spend only 14% of their budget on plugging wells. 

The Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management spent $55.43 million in state funds and $6.7 million in federal funds to plug orphan wells in 2025, according to ODNR. 

ODNR will sometimes uses drones to help locate orphan wells. 

“The drone program is supported by multiple, contracted well-locating consultants that fly drone-based magnetometers to locate and verify unknown wells,” said Rural Action Watersheds Program Director Matt Ledford. 

Rural Action has worked with ODNR’s Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management since 2024 as a landowner liaison between the division and property owners where orphan wells are located, Ledford said. 

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