Press Releases

 Today, Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández announced that the U.S. Department of the Interior has made $43.7 million available in funding to clean up orphaned wells and create jobs for New Mexico from the Infrastructure Law. This funding is the first allocation of the $4.7 billion allocated for orphaned oil and gas wells in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In addition to the $43.7 million made available today, New Mexico will have additional opportunities to apply for formula and performance-based funding opportunities in the future.

This funding follows Congresswoman’s Teresa Leger Fernández introduction of the Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act, which provided $4.7 billion in funding to plug, remediate, and reclaim orphaned wells, and large parts of this bill were included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure.

“Orphaned wells release toxic emissions into the air and contaminants into the water–often near Native American, rural and Latino communities.  Last year, I visited an orphaned well next to a school in my district – you could taste the metal in the air,” said Rep. Leger Fernández. “I am proud to have secured $4.7 billion in the Infrastructure Law to clean up orphaned wells and invest in the future of our rural communities. This funding will both protect the environment and create good-paying jobs for New Mexicans.”

Background:

Orphaned wells are oil and gas wells that have been abandoned when a gas operator cannot pay to plug them and restore the area. In New Mexico there are approximately 1,700 orphaned and abandoned wells on state and private land.

Across the country over 56,000 known “orphaned” oil and gas wells leak methane into the air and groundwater that pose serious public health risks to rural, Tribal, and communities of color.

The Orphan Wells Cleanup and Jobs Act:

• Authorizes $7.25 billion in grant funding for orphaned well cleanup on state and private lands, $400 million for cleanup on public lands, and $300 million for cleanup on Tribal lands.

• Strengthens regulatory safeguards on public lands to prevent future orphaned wells.
• Increases minimum public land oil and gas bonding amounts to $150,0000 and $500,000 for all of an operator’s wells on an individual lease or in an entire state, respectively.
• Requires operators to pay an annual fee for idled wells on public lands.
• Allocates $50 million for related research and development to identify, characterize, and mitigate undocumented orphaned wells.
• Requires the steel, iron, and other materials used in the plugging and reclamation of oil and gas wells to be made in the United States.

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