The Belridge oil field near McKittrick, California, on November 3, 2021, is seen from above. Some pumpjacks are working, while others are just sitting there. It was promised by the Biden government that methane emissions from oil and gas production would be cut. 35,000 oil and gas wells in California are not being used. Many of them are not plugged in, which means they could leak methane gas. Scientists think that methane is responsible for about one-third of the global heat that humans have caused.
On Thursday, the U.S. Interior Department said that California and New Mexico will get $14.5 million to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells. A news release says that New Mexico’s $5.25 million share will be used to “plug up to 10 orphaned wells on state-owned or privately owned lands and remove and dispose of associated surface infrastructure.” The state will also look at and fix about two well sites and fix up the top of up to fifty well sites that have been plugged. The grants that New Mexico and California received are matching grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This law includes money for cleaning up old pollution, like oil and gas wells that have been abandoned and are now polluting water sources and releasing methane, among other harmful things.
“Empty and dangerous oil and gas wells have been a problem in American communities for generations,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement. “With this money, California and New Mexico will keep plugging wells and move forward with their plans to stop these environmental hazards that hurt our land, water, and air.”
The New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department announced in 2022 that it would be working on orphaned oil and gas wells with a $25 million federal grant. The first plugging operation began that same year in October in Lea County; at that time, the state had about 1,700 orphaned wells, according to the EMNRD. The state got an extra $25 million the previous year.
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