# Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act of 2021

Across the country, there are thousands of old oil and gas wells that have been abandoned by their operators. These "orphaned wells" sit unused, often leaking methane gas into the atmosphere, contaminating groundwater, and creating safety hazards for nearby communities. This bill creates a federal program to clean up these wells and provides money to states to do the same.

The federal government will establish a program to permanently seal and restore orphaned wells on public lands managed by the Interior and Agriculture departments. The bill requires the government to identify which wells pose the biggest risks to public health and the environment, then prioritize plugging them based on those dangers. Beyond just sealing the wells, the program will also clean up the surrounding land, restore native plants and wildlife habitats, and remove old pipelines and equipment left behind. The government will also try to track down whoever originally operated these wells to recover cleanup costs from them when possible.

States get significant funding to tackle orphaned wells on private and state-owned land. Oil and gas producing states can receive up to $25 million upfront if they can commit to spending at least 90 percent of it on actual cleanup work within six months. Other states can get up to $5 million to start or strengthen their orphaned well programs. States that apply for larger grants later can receive additional funding based on a formula that considers how many orphaned wells they have, how much oil and gas they produce, and recent job losses in the industry. The bill emphasizes that this cleanup work should create jobs, particularly for workers who lost employment during the 2020 economic downturn. States must publicly report how they're spending the money and what results they're achieving, so taxpayers can see where their investment is going.

Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act of 2021

Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act of 2021 This bill establishes incentives and requirements to permanently plug orphaned (i.e., abandoned) oil and gas wells and clean up pollution leaking from such wells. Specifically, the bill directs the Department of the Interior to establish grant programs to plug and clean up orphaned wells located on federal, state, tribal, and private land. Interior must also issue regulations that require each operator of an idled well on federal land to pay an annual, nonrefundable fee for each well. If the operator fails to pay the fee, then Interior may assess a civil penalty. Revenues generated from such fees must be used for activities related to cleaning up orphaned wells. Additionally, the bill requires the review of the adequacy of bonds or other financial arrangements for oil and gas development on public land leased from the federal government. Such bonds or financial arrangements are currently required to ensure developers have adequate financial resources to remediate and reclaim public land, water, or other resources after wells are abandoned or oil and gas development ceases.