Department of the Interior Delivers $14.5 Million from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to Clean Up Legacy Pollution in California and New Mexico

Date: Thursday, January 16, 2025
Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON - The Department of the Interior today announced $14.5 million from President Biden's Investing in America agenda for California and New Mexico to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells. These investments to address hazardous sites will create good-paying union jobs, catalyze economic growth and revitalization, help protect public health and the environment from harmful methane leaks, and advance environmental justice.

California is receiving a $9 million award, which the state will use to plug up to 44 high-priority orphaned wells on state and private lands and decommission up to 23 attendant facilities, including the removal of an estimated 6,600 feet of well pipelines and 4,750 feet of facility pipelines. New Mexico will use its $5.5 million award to plug up to 10 orphaned wells on state-owned or privately owned lands and remove and dispose of associated surface infrastructure. New Mexico will also perform site characterization and remediation at an estimated two well sites and perform surface restoration at up to 50 plugged well sites.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Department is delivering the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history, including $4.7 billion to plug orphaned wells. Plugging is underway nationwide, and since the law's enactment, states have already plugged nearly 9,500 orphaned wells.   

"Toxic orphaned oil and gas wells have plagued American communities for generations. President Biden's Investing in America agenda has empowered states across the country to address this long-standing environmental injustice by making a historic investment to plug these wells, which will create jobs and revitalize local economies," said Secretary Deb Haaland. "With this funding, California and New Mexico will continue the progress already made plugging wells and begin to turn the tide on these environmental hazards that are harming our lands, waters and air." 

Orphaned oil and gas wells are polluting backyards, recreation areas, and community spaces across the country. Many of these wells pose serious health and safety threats to air and water quality by contaminating surface and groundwater, releasing toxic air pollutants, polluting drinking water sources, and leaking methane- a "super pollutant" that is a significant cause of climate change and many times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Plugging orphaned wells supports broader Biden-Harris administration efforts under the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan.    

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $1.5 billion for state performance grants, which fall into two sub-categories: matching grants and regulatory improvement grants. Today's awards for California and New Mexico are matching grants. Last Spring, the Department released final matching grant guidance, and states are now eligible to receive up to $30 million in matching grant funds. Earlier this week, the Department released final regulatory improvement guidance, under which states can apply for up to $40 million in additional funding.

The Department's orphaned wells program advances the Biden-Harris administration's ambitious environmental justice goals through the Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that have been marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.  

In addition to providing historic funding to states, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $150 million clean-up efforts on Tribal land. Additionally, $250 million is available under the law to clean up well sites in national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands, all of which has been disbursed over the past four years.  

###