Orphan well cleanup in Southeast Texas receives federal funding

U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) administration announced Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to three Southeast Texas wildlife refuges and the Big Thicket National Preserve to “fund the plugging of orphaned wells and reclamation to ensure sites are restored for the benefit of wildlife and their habitat.”

McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, as well as Big Thicket National Preserve, will receive funding as part of a total of $250 million provided to clean up orphaned well sites on federal public lands. This year’s funding expands existing projects and undertakes new initiatives from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Circle, plugging and remediating orphaned oil and gas well sites located in national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and on other public lands and waters. Methane pollution from many of these unplugged wells is a serious safety hazard and is a significant driver of climate change, with methane being more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, the DOI detailed.

This year’s funding to five federal bureaus at the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture is part of an overall historic $16 billion investment to address “legacy pollution,” defined by the National Park Service as “chemicals once used in the U.S., but then discontinued or outright banned.”

“These legacy pollution sites are environmental hazards and jeopardize public health and safety by contaminating groundwater, emitting noxious gases like methane, littering the landscape with rusted and dangerous equipment, creating flooding and sinkhole risks, and harming wildlife,” DOI further describes.

“Decades of drilling have left behind thousands of non-producing wells that now threaten the health and wellbeing of our communities, our lands, and our waters,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “This funding will put Americans to work in goodpaying jobs, while also fueling collaboration across a broad coalition of stakeholders and engaging communities to work toward sustainable stewardship of the nation’s treasured lands and waters.”

Funding from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will clean up over 300 orphaned oil and gas well sites nationwide, including two orphaned wells at the Big Thicket National Preserve, as well as pre-plugging or post-plugging activities at McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.