Historic funding to plug orphaned oil and gas wells will address environmental and safety hazards, create good-paying jobs in communities across three states.
August 4, 2024 – WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior on Friday announced $52 million from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for Colorado, Illinois, and West Virginia to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells. These investments to address hazardous sites will help create good-paying union jobs, catalyze economic growth and revitalization, help protect public health and the environment from harmful methane leaks, and advance environmental justice.
Colorado is receiving a $25 million award, which the state will use to plug 106 orphaned wells and to complete equipment decommissioning, remediation and restoration at approximately 200 additional sites where wells were previously plugged. Illinois will use its $25 million award to plug up to 460 orphaned oil and gas wells. West Virginia has been awarded $1.97 million, which the state will use to plug approximately 16 orphaned wells.
Orphaned oil and gas wells are polluting backyards, recreation areas, and community spaces across the country. Many of these wells pose serious health and safety threats by contaminating surface and groundwater, releasing toxic air pollutants, and leaking methane – a “super pollutant” that is a significant cause of climate change and many times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Plugging orphaned wells supports broader Biden-Harris administration efforts under the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan.
“Toxic orphaned oil and gas wells have plagued American communities for generations. President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is empowering states across the country to address this long-standing environmental injustice by making a historic investment to plug these wells, which will create jobs and revitalize local economies,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “With this historic funding, Colorado, Illinois and West Virginia will continue the progress already made plugging wells and begin to turn the tide on these environmental hazards that are harming our lands, waters and air.”
Friday’s awards for Colorado and Illinois are part of an overall $660 million in formula grant funding being released on a rolling basis. West Virginia is receiving a matching grant, one of two categories of performance grants, becoming the first state to receive such a grant since the Department released final state matching grant guidance in May. As part of the awards, Colorado, Illinois and West Virginia will detect and measure methane emissions from orphaned oil and gas wells, screen for groundwater and surface water impacts, and seek to prioritize cleaning up wells near overburdened and disadvantaged communities.
Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department is delivering the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history, including $4.7 billion to plug orphaned wells. This includes grants to states in three categories: initial grants, formula grants, and performance grants. Since August 2022, the Department has awarded $565 million in initial grant funding to 25 states, including $25 million each to Colorado, Illinois and West Virginia, to begin work plugging and cleaning up orphaned wells nationwide. As demonstrated by the Department's StoryMap, plugging is underway across the country, and since the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, states have plugged more than 7,700 orphaned wells. Nationwide, investments through the Department’s new program are estimated to have supported over 7,200 jobs and contributed more than $900 million to the economy over the last two fiscal years.
In addition to the $775 million available through initial grants and $1.5 billion available in performance grants, certain states are eligible for $2 billion in formula grants under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With Friday’s announcement, since January, the Department has awarded $444 million in formula grants to 18 states.
These awards advance the Biden-Harris administration’s ambitious environmental justice goals through the Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Source & photo credit: DOI
