The Biden administration is offering up to $350 million in grants to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas wells by plugging and monitoring wells.
The funding is a rollout of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program, created under section 60113 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with $1.55 billion in funding from 2022 to 2028. President Joe Biden sign into law in August 2022 to help ensure energy security and climate. resilience.
The amount will be channeled “to eligible states for the purpose of mitigating methane emissions from marginal conventional wells (MCWs) by providing financial assistance to well operators/owners to voluntarily and permanently plug in and abandon MCWs (including elements of environmental restoration necessary to meet applicable state or federal plug and abandonment standards and regulations) on non-federal lands, as well as control methane emissions from MCWs,” read the official grant description on Grants.gov.
“Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, so it is crucial that we work closely with states and industry to develop solutions that reduce emissions at their source,” said the Energy Secretary Jennifer M Granholm in a statement.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Invest in America agenda, the DOE [Department of Energy] collaboration with the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] will strengthen our national efforts to control and mitigate methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, our largest source of industrial methane, while helping to revitalize energy communities and providing health and environmental benefits to long term throughout the country”.
The offer is part of a series of IRA funding “that will target the monitoring and reduction of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector,” the DOE said in a news release on last week, calling methane “one of the main drivers of the climate crisis.”
In addition to the DOE, the noncompetitive grant involves the EPA, under an interagency agreement that also commits them to providing “technical assistance to help companies monitor and reduce methane emissions from leaks and daily operations.” , the EPA said on July 24 in a news release. release announcing the deal and a notice of intent to make the $350 million available.
The grant would be awarded to state governments with a maximum grant of $150 million, according to the letter of intent.
“These investments [the $350 million] is expected to improve the economic competitiveness of small and medium producers while reducing associated harmful air pollution, mitigating health effects in nearby communities and creating jobs in energy communities,” said the DOE announcement last week.
“States will also be able to use a portion of their award for environmental restoration and invest in their monitoring capacity for low-production conventional wells, which will improve their ability to identify sources of methane emissions and to effectively prioritize its mitigation.”
More subsidies
The DOE said they would pursue competitive grant packages to address methane emissions. According to EPA’s announcement, these competitive methane monitoring and mitigation grants would be opened to a wider range of recipients.
“A separate financial assistance program for tribal governments is also expected to be provided,” the EPA announcement added.
Technical help
Under the technical assistance aspect of the DOE-EPA agreement, the agencies are targeting “small and medium-sized producers that often lack the capital and expertise of large oil and gas companies and will work with partners to implement and prioritizing best practices and mitigation decisions.” -Tools to support the entire oil and gas industry,” the EPA said in the July 24 press release.
“This technical assistance will also ensure that efforts are fully aligned with the needs of local communities and help inform key decision-makers about mitigation opportunities for states, industry and other partners,” said the EPA announcement.
DOE said in last week’s announcement, “EPA and DOE are collaborating along with other members of the new White House Methane Task Force, which is advancing a government-wide approach to to proactive methane leak detection and data transparency and supporting state and local efforts to mitigate and enforce methane emissions regulations.”
“Today’s actions by EPA and DOE accelerate implementation of the US Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, building on more than 80 Administration actions taken in less than “one year since the Plan was launched in November 2022,” the DOE added.
State governments have until September 30 to apply for the grant.
To contact the author, please email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
