In Focus: Cleaning Up Orphaned and Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells

Daniel Raimi

Date

Oct. 5, 2023

Guest

Daniel Raimi

Producers

Annie McDarris and Matt Fleck

Image

Maximov Denis / Shutterstock

The US Department of the Interior recently announced nearly $40 million in funding to help Native nations plug and remediate orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells on tribal lands. This funding adds to a separate allocation of $4.7 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for states to address orphaned and abandoned wells. These wells can cause methane emissions, groundwater contamination, and trip and fall hazards, but the scale of these environmental hazards is not well understood. In light of the new funding, RFF Fellow Daniel Raimi shares his thoughts on why it’s important to remedy this nationwide problem.

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