State and US officials tout spending to plug ‘orphan wells’

By GERALD HERBERT and KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press

ATCHAFALAYA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, La. (AP) — Officials with the Biden administration have visited a Louisiana wildlife refuge touting plans to clean up and plug “orphan wells.” Around 2 million abandoned oil and gas wells across the U.S. pose pollution threats. But their operators are bankrupt, can’t be found or otherwise cannot be made to clean up the sites. The Biden administration plans to tackle the problem with $4.7 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in late 2021. A Louisiana wildlife official says wells there could leak residual oil, polluting chemicals or methane gas at any time. The federal program includes $13 million for cleaning up 175 wells on national wildlife refuges in Louisiana and Oklahoma.