New legislation cleans up orphaned well crisis and creates jobs

Today, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández introduced the Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act of 2021 that takes critical steps to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells across public lands, while stimulating rural economies and cutting down on pollution.

In response to the bill introduction, The Wilderness Society released the following statement from New Mexico Director Michael Casaus:

“For decades, orphaned oil and gas wells have left communities responsible to pay for a mess they didn’t create and deal with the hazards of chemicals leaking into the air and drinking water. Rep. Leger Fernández’s bill would immediately work to clean up the nation’s orphan well crisis, while creating thousands of good paying jobs that help transition our public lands away from fossil fuels towards a cleaner, sustainable economy.”

Federal minimum bonding requirements for wells on public lands have not been updated since the 1950s and the 1960s, and reclamation of these wells may now exceed $6 billion in total.  Meanwhile, the number of orphaned wells across the west are growing– leaving communities with hundreds of millions – if not billions of dollars in cleanup costs, at a time when states are already facing serious budget deficits and can’t afford to clean up industry’s mess.

Rep. Leger Fernández bill would ensure hazardous well sites are plugged up and communities are kept safe, while updating policies to ensure industry is held responsible for their mess and lay groundwork to gain a better understanding of the problem’s true scale:

1. The bill authorizes funds to identify, plug, and reclaim orphaned wells and the associated infrastructure on federal land;
2. The bill directs the Interior Secretary to create and administer grant programs that provide funds to states and tribes to plug and reclaim wells on tribal, state and privately owned lands;
3. The bill strengthens federal oil and gas bonding rules to ensure that oil and gas companies pay for plugging and reclamation costs as currently required by law. It eliminates the outdated policy that allows oil and gas companies to pay one small fee and drill as much as they want on public land; increases rates to adjust for inflation; and improves data collection to identify and remedy orphaned wells.

The growing issue of orphaned oil and gas wells across the country has garnered the attention of the Biden administration, whose recent American Jobs Plan included $16 billion to clean up orphaned wells and mines, while aiming to boost rural economies and create jobs.