FRANKFURT, Ky. (KT) – The Department of the Interior announced Wednesday the award of $36.9 million in the first phase of a funding package under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for the Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri to clean up legacy pollution.
Kentucky is receiving a $25 million grant to plug and restore approximately 550 orphaned oil and gas wells. Mississippi will use its $6.8 million grant to continue its efforts to identify, characterize and prioritize previously undocumented orphan wells and to conduct plugging, remediation and restoration work at approximately 400 sites in orphan wells. Missouri is receiving $5.1 million to plug and rehabilitate approximately 238 orphaned wells.
As part of the awards, the three states will measure methane emissions from orphaned oil and gas wells, examine impacts on groundwater and surface water, and seek to prioritize cleaning of wells near communities overburdened and disadvantaged.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is creating jobs and revitalizing local economies while cleaning up old, harmful pollution sites across the country,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “I have witnessed many hazardous sites actively leaking oil and releasing methane that urgently need to be addressed. With this historic funding, the states of Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri will continue the progress made in well plugging over the past year. These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers.
Orphaned oil and gas wells pollute yards, recreational areas, and community spaces across the country. Many of these wells pose serious threats to health and safety by contaminating surface and ground water, releasing toxic air pollutants and releasing methane – a “super pollutant” that is a significant cause of climate change and much more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in water. the atmosphere. Plugging orphan wells supports the Biden-Harris administration’s broader efforts under the U.S. Action Plan to Reduce Methane Emissions.
Thanks to the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the department is making the largest investment in the fight against legacy pollution in American history, including $4.7 billion to plug orphan wells. In August 2022, the department announced an initial grant of $560 million to 24 states, including $25 million to Kentucky and $5 million to Mississippi so those states could begin plugging and cleaning orphaned wells. This latest amount of $37 million in the form of a grant will help these three states continue the momentum started in 2022.
FRANKFURT, Ky. (KT) – The Department of the Interior announced Wednesday the award of $36.9 million in the first phase of a funding package under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda for the Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri to clean up legacy pollution.
Kentucky is receiving a $25 million grant to plug and restore approximately 550 orphaned oil and gas wells. Mississippi will use its $6.8 million grant to continue its efforts to identify, characterize and prioritize previously undocumented orphan wells and to conduct plugging, remediation and restoration work at approximately 400 sites in orphan wells. Missouri is receiving $5.1 million to plug and rehabilitate approximately 238 orphaned wells.
As part of the awards, the three states will measure methane emissions from orphaned oil and gas wells, examine impacts on groundwater and surface water, and seek to prioritize cleaning of wells near communities overburdened and disadvantaged.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is creating jobs and revitalizing local economies while cleaning up old, harmful pollution sites across the country,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “I have witnessed many hazardous sites actively leaking oil and releasing methane that urgently need to be addressed. With this historic funding, the states of Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri will continue the progress made in well plugging over the past year. These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers.
Orphaned oil and gas wells pollute yards, recreational areas, and community spaces across the country. Many of these wells pose serious threats to health and safety by contaminating surface and ground water, releasing toxic air pollutants and releasing methane – a “super pollutant” that is a significant cause of climate change and much more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in water. the atmosphere. Plugging orphan wells supports the Biden-Harris administration’s broader efforts under the U.S. Action Plan to Reduce Methane Emissions.
Thanks to the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the department is making the largest investment in the fight against legacy pollution in American history, including $4.7 billion to plug orphan wells. In August 2022, the department announced an initial grant of $560 million to 24 states, including $25 million to Kentucky and $5 million to Mississippi so those states could begin plugging and cleaning orphaned wells. This latest amount of $37 million in the form of a grant will help these three states continue the momentum started in 2022.
