The U.S. Bureau of Environmental Safety and Enforcement (BSEE) has announced a $3 million investment from the bipartisan Infrastructure Act “to help reduce the risk of pollution from orphaned infrastructure on the federal Outer Continental Shelf “.
This funding will specifically support BSEE’s decommissioning services contracts in the Matagorda Island lease area in the Gulf of Mexico, BSEE said in a statement posted on its site, adding that the funds they are part of a nearly $64 million investment in America commitment by President Biden. agenda to address orphan oil and gas wells on public lands.
BSEE disclosed in the release that it plans to award contracts to address nine orphan wells and associated pipelines and platforms in the Matagorda Island lease area, approximately 12 miles off the Texas coast. According to the organization, the initial contract will address the most immediate and urgent needs to reduce the risk of safety incidents and contamination in preparation for well plugging operations.
“The funding announced … under the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act is critical to helping BSEE leverage available funds to address the backlog of orphan offshore infrastructure closures in the Gulf of Mexico BSEE Director Kevin Sligh said in a statement from the organization.
“If not properly decommissioned, offshore oil and gas infrastructure can become safety hazards, cause environmental damage, or interfere with navigation, fishing or other uses of the outer continental shelf,” added.
The BSEE emphasized in the statement that an important part of its responsibilities is to ensure that infrastructure used in exploration, development and production activities conducted under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act is properly decommissioned to provide long-term protection of the resource and the surrounding environment.
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) recently announced a $63.8 million investment “through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to put people to work to clog and repair sites of orphan oil and gas wells located in national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges and on other public lands and waters”.
This year’s funding to five federal offices of the Interior and Agriculture departments is part of a “historic” $16 billion overall investment from President Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the DOI said in a government statement posted on its site. The $16 billion investment includes $11.3 billion to provide grants to states and tribes for the reclamation of abandoned coal mine lands and $4.7 billion for plugging, remediation and restoration activities for orphan wells, it noted the DOI site.
“Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are investing in the nation’s future by addressing legacy contamination on public lands,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a government statement.
“This funding will put Americans to good-paying jobs, while fostering collaboration among a broad coalition of stakeholders and engaging communities to work toward sustainable management of our lands and waters. the nation,” Haaland added.
The $63.8 million allocation is part of a total of $250 million provided through the bipartisan Infrastructure Act to clean up orphan well sites on federal public lands, the DOI said in the statement , noting that this year’s funding nearly doubles the investment in recovery efforts during the program’s first year. According to a list posted on the DOI site showing the bipartisan FY23 Infrastructure Act funded federal orphan well projects by state, Kentucky leads the way with 131, followed by Pennsylvania with 48 and Oklahoma with 45.
In addition to projects led by federal agencies, $560 million in seed grants were awarded to states last year to address orphan oil and gas wells on state and private lands, the DOI noted in the statement.
In August 2022, the DOI announced that it had awarded an initial $560 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to 24 states to begin work to plug, cap and recover orphan oil and gas wells. In a DOI statement at the time, the organization noted that eligible states had indicated that there are more than 10,000 high-priority well sites nationwide ready for immediate remediation efforts, “with many more ready for future actions”.
In a statement posted on its site in April, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) said Texas was the first state in the nation to begin plugging orphan oil and gas wells through an initial grant under the Act federal Investment and Employment in Infrastructure.
“Among all oil and gas producing states, we are a leader in addressing orphan wells, and the Legislature has passed several measures to create incentives to reduce orphan wells in Texas,” said RRC Executive Director , Wei Wang, in an organization statement posted on the PRC website in April.
“We’ve built great momentum using federal funds to plug wells, and we urged Secretary Haaland to help us keep the momentum going,” Chang added in the statement.
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
