U.S. Department of the Interior Announces $775 Million to Plug Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced $775 million in funding via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda for the purpose of plugging orphaned oil and gas wells.

Orphaned oil and gas wells are considered legacy pollution sites, according to the department. The remnant pollution from these sites can contaminate groundwater, harm local wildlife, increase the risk of flooding and sinkholes, and release harmful pollutants such as methane into the air.

As such, the Biden-Harris Administration on Wednesday announced additional funding for plugging these orphaned wells in 21 states. More than $1 billion has already been distributed toward this initiative, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has allotted $4.7 billion in total toward cleaning up these legacy pollution sites.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is enabling us to confront long-standing environmental injustices by making a historic investment to plug orphaned wells throughout the country,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers. With this third round of additional funding, states will put more people to work to clean up these toxic sites, reduce methane emissions and safeguard our environment.” 

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So far, states have already plugged more than 8,200 orphaned oil and gas wells, the department said.

There are 21 states eligible for this round of funding: Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming.

According to an analysis published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in 2022, the states with the highest amount of documented orphaned wells include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Kentucky. As of April 2022, there were 123,318 documented orphaned wells in the U.S.

^{An orphaned well in Millersport, Ohio. Steven Jenkins / Flickr}

Eligible states have until December 13 to apply for this phase of grant funding. Those that apply will be required to measure methane emissions from the orphaned wells that will be plugged through this round of funding, screen for groundwater and surface water pollution, and detail how they will prioritize which sites to plug first, including by considering disadvantaged communities and environmental and public health risks.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has further allocated $250 million for well cleanup in national parks and other public lands and nearly $40 million has been awarded to Tribal communities for plugging and remediating orphaned wells.