Pelican State News

LAKE ARTHUR, La. – On September 28, 2023, Gov. John Bel Edwards and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Martha Williams visited ongoing orphaned well site work that Louisiana is overseeing on behalf of the USFWS in the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge.

Using funds provided by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has plugged 582 wells since January 2023 in just 10 months of work. 

“I want to thank Director Williams for the faith she placed in us to address the wells on USFWS sites in Louisiana,” Gov. Edwards said. “I am very proud of the work Sec. Tom Harris and DNR have carried out through their contractors to pursue an aggressive timetable in reducing the number of orphaned well sites and the contamination hazards they represent. Additionally, I would like to thank Rep. Troy Carter, Sen. Bill Cassidy, and President Biden for their support of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that makes this work possible to begin with.” 

The 582 wells plugged since mid-January with BIL funding more than doubles the highest number ever plugged by the state Oilfield Site Restoration (OSR) program in a full year – 280 in Fiscal year 1998-99 – and triples the average OSR full-year plugging figures over the past several years. The $25-million Initial Grant from the BIL, paired with $12.7 million in BIL funding provided to the state by the USFWS, helped attract larger-scale contractors who normally do not bid on smaller individual projects.

The two primary contractors chosen by DNR have been working with more than a dozen crews in the field since January, with work wrapping up on projects supported by BIL funding directed to the state and still moving forward on projects for which USFWS has provided funding. 

"The state of Louisiana has been an important partner as we tackle legacy pollution issues and manage natural resources in the state," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams. “Through these transformational investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we can make public lands, like Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge, safer and more enjoyable for everyone."

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) provided the BIL funding, having awarded Louisiana a $25-million Initial Grant to address orphaned wells in the state. The BIL funding is being administered by the DOI as part of an overall $1.15 billion announced in January 2022 for states to plug and remediate orphaned wells. DOI has indicated states will receive additional phases of funding this year.

In addition, the USFWS partnered with DNR to have the Louisiana OSR program use $12.7 million in BIL funding to engage state OSR contractors in plugging orphaned wells on federal wildlife refuges.

The Initial Grant is more than double the average annual amount of funding the regular state Oilfield Site Restoration Program, with which the state Office of Conservation has plugged an average of about 160 wells a year in recent years.

“While we thought we were setting an ambitious goal to double our average number of orphaned wells plugged in a year, we have found that setting an aggressive pace presented us with the opportunity to double our highest-ever number of wells plugged and triple our recent average – and all in just under 10 months,” Harris said. “I truly appreciate the men and women of our DNR staff and our contractors who remained committed to make the very most of the opportunity provided to us by the BIL orphaned well funding.”

Harris said he hopes that the pace and scope of the work done under this Initial Grant from the BIL will strengthen the case for increasing the amount Louisiana receives in later rounds of funding targeting orphaned wells.

Typically, orphaned well sites in Louisiana are wells designated by the Office of Conservation as not having a responsive operator, either due to the operator going out of business or being unable or unwilling to maintain their sites in compliance with state regulations. Louisiana’s orphaned well count is at about 4,500 sites, accelerated by downturns in the prices of oil and gas in recent years that put financial strains on oil and gas companies and their ability to maintain their sites or their businesses.

DOI announced the funding being awarded to Louisiana in October 2022 and DNR chose its primary contractors in December 2022, with the first well plugged on January 17, 2023 in the Caddo Pine Island Field in Caddo Parish – home to some of the densest well populations in the state, orphaned or operating.

DNR is also using the BIL funding to meet other DOI requirements - including establishing protocols and programs for methane and water quality testing and monitoring; addressing disproportionate impacts to disadvantaged communities from orphaned wells; and creating jobs to restore oilfield sites. 

Orphaned well sites the state plans to address with these Initial Grant contracts are primarily located in North Louisiana, a region that has a greater concentration of orphaned wells. The Office of Conservation’s Shreveport and Monroe districts contain more than 3,100 of the state’s roughly 4,500 current orphaned well sites.

Contractors interested in future contracts, as well as the general public interested in the progress of DNR’s future BIL initiatives, can visit www.dnr.la.gov/fedprojects to get the latest updates and information on DOI guidance, DNR activity and BIL orphaned well projects in Louisiana. For more general information on BIL projects across Louisiana, including an interactive map with projects broken down by type and congressional district, go to infrastructure.la.gov.

Original source can be found here.