Biden-Harris Administration Announces $109 Million from Investing in America Agenda to Clean Up Legacy Pollution on Federal Lands and Waters

Date: Friday, December 13, 2024
Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON - The Department of the Interior today announced a $109.6 million investment through President Biden's Investing in America agenda to put people to work plugging, remediating and reclaiming orphaned oil and gas wells in national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and on other public lands and waters. Five federal agencies within the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture will address 484 high-priority, polluting wells that pose threats to human health and safety, the climate, and wildlife. Today's announcement brings the total distributed to address orphaned wells on federal lands to $250 million, the entirety of the funding made available in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for work on federal lands.

This year's funding is part of an overall historic $4.7 billion investment from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address orphaned oil and gas wells across the nation that will create good-paying union jobs, catalyze economic growth and revitalization, improve public health and safety, and reduce harmful methane leaks. Methane pollution from many of these unplugged wells is a serious safety hazard and a significant driver of climate change, with methane being more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

"Toxic orphaned wells pose a significant threat to American communities and our environment," said Secretary Deb Haaland. "I've seen firsthand how orphaned oil and gas wells left behind by extractive industries lead to hazardous pollution, water contamination, and safety hazards. This crucial funding reflects President Biden's vision for a cleaner, safer and more equitable future. It's a win-win-win - reducing harmful methane emissions, restoring our treasured landscapes, and creating good-paying jobs."

Today's allocation is part of a total $250 million provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to clean up orphaned well sites on federal public lands and is in addition to $4.3 billion to plug orphaned wells on state and private lands and $150 million for clean-up on Tribal lands. It is estimated that the money distributed for public lands will plug over 1,000 orphaned wells. To date, 199 of these orphaned wells have been plugged.

Today's $109.6 million investment will fund cleanup efforts across 13 states and the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf, covering a diverse array of projects, including plugging, reclamation, methane measurement, and infrastructure removal at various national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, and offshore oilfield locations.

See below for a list of funded projects slated for this fiscal year:

FY25 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funded Federal Orphaned Well Projects by Agency and State: 

Agency	State	Total Number of Wells	Total Project Funding Amount ($)
Bureau of Land Management	Ohio Pennsylvania West Virginia Wyoming	39	11,775,000
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement	Gulf of Mexico Region - Grand Isle 22 Area Gulf of Mexico Region - High Island Area Gulf of Mexico Region - South Timbalier 54/67 Area Gulf of Mexico Region - West Delta Area	20	30,621,527
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	Louisiana Michigan (MI) / Oregon Montana Oklahoma Texas	288	17,900,158
National Park Service	Louisiana Ohio Tennessee Texas Multiple states	24	13,280,000
U.S. Forest Service	Kentucky Pennsylvania	113	16,808,945
Grand Total (All Bureaus Combined Project Funding)		484	* $90,385,630

*Does not include $19,186,348 in administrative and contingency funding

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