Nearly $5 billion in federal funds is being made available for projects centering on the plugging, remediation, and reclaiming of orphaned wells across the country.
The money is coming through the big $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed late last year, which provides up to $62 billion to the Department of Energy for any number of energy efficiency, grid modernization, and clean energy electricity generation projects.
The legislation is also providing around $11.3 billion for the ongoing Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund.
In a statement, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has noted that the Department is “committed to helping working families, often in rural and Tribal communities, who face hazardous pollution, toxic water levels, and land subsidence both during energy development and long after extractive companies have moved on.”
According to an Interior Department guidance, each state is eligible to receive up to $25 million in funding for well-plugging, groundwater contamination, and the reclamation of lands “impacted by oil and gas development activities.”
It is thought that there may be up to 130,000 orphaned oil and gas wells in the U.S., some many decades old. A report published in the publication Insurance Journal in 2020 noted that in addition to their impacts on the environment, orphan and abandoned oil and gas wells that remain unplugged pose “significant threats to public health and safety.”
A Government Accountability Office report issued last year estimated that the total cost of plugging all abandoned wells could ultimately come in at least $2.6 billion.
By Garry Boulard
