by Ted Boettner | Jan 17, 2023 | Blog Posts, Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage
In August of 2022, the US Department of Interior (DOI) announced it awarded 24 states $560 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to plug over 10,000 wells, reclaim well sites, and measure methane emissions. In January of last year, DOI announced...
by Eric Dixon | Aug 18, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
In March, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) hosted the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy on a tour of West Virginia’s coalfields. After visiting a proposed steel mill in Mason County, they visited a center that educates the...
by Eric Dixon | Aug 18, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
“After decades of delay and decline, America’s workers stand ready to rebuild our country.” That’s what AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as she joined President Joe Biden in the Rose Garden. At the signing ceremony, the...
by Ted Boettner | Jun 27, 2022 | Blog Posts, Natural Gas, Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage, Videos
Last December, the Ohio River Valley Institute published Stayin’ Alive: The Last Days of Stripper Wells in the Ohio Valley, a report chronicling the more than 177,000 low-producing, “stripper” oil and gas wells in Appalachia that could soon become abandoned and...
by Ted Boettner, Kathy Hipple, and Anthony Ingraffea | Apr 12, 2022 | Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage, Reports
Diversified Energy, the nation’s largest owner of oil and gas wells, does not have enough funds to plug its entire inventory of assets, research from the Ohio River Valley Institute shows. If Diversified or other companies that own low-producing wells in the region...
by Ted Boettner | Mar 30, 2022 | Blog Posts, Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
Earlier this month, we provided an explainer of the $4.7 billion federal orphaned well program that was included in the federal infrastructure legislation (the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021) and what that meant for states in the Ohio River Valley. To...
by Ted Boettner | Mar 8, 2022 | Blog Posts, Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
At the end of January, the Biden administration and the US Department of Interior (DOI) announced the first round of $1.15 billion in funding from a new federal orphaned well program to plug, remediate, and reclaim oil and gas wells. As part of the 2021...
by Eric Dixon | Feb 7, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage
Congress made an historic investment in coal abandoned mine land (AML) cleanup with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In the coming months, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) will issue the official guidance...
by Eric Dixon | Feb 7, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
In November 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which made historic investments in the reclamation of land and water damaged by the coal industry before 1977. We have found that while the bill will only address about half of...
by Ted Boettner | Dec 16, 2021 | Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage, Reports
View and download the full report. View and download a one-page summary. In recent years, there has been growing concern over the millions of oil and gas wells that are no longer producing but are threatening the environment and public health and will cost tens of...
