{"id":42798,"date":"2024-11-01T11:38:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T15:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=42798"},"modified":"2024-11-01T11:46:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T15:46:01","slug":"cronkite-news-tribal-governments-responsible-for-orphaned-oil-and-gas-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/11\/01\/cronkite-news-tribal-governments-responsible-for-orphaned-oil-and-gas-wells\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Tribal governments responsible for orphaned oil and gas wells"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Guadalupe<\/a>
An abandoned oil pump jack in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. Photo: National Park Service<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Well, well, well: Taxpayers pay the price for oil and gas wells leaking methane as multiple entities work to plug them<\/div>\r\n
Friday, November 1, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Gabrielle Wallace<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 Many oil and gas wells across Arizona with no known owners leak methane into the environment, which tribal, state and federal agencies are responsible for cleaning up.<\/p>\r\n

These wells \u2013 referred to as \u201corphaned\u201d \u2013 are often not properly maintained and can lead to surface and groundwater contamination causing pollution, health issues and threats to wildlife.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

\u201cFor over a century, oil and gas companies have set up their drilling operations across Arizona, taken what they wanted and then skipped town, leaving their dangerous equipment and toxic mess for someone else, namely American taxpayers, to deal with and pay for,\u201d Rep. Ra\u00fal Grijalva, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee<\/a> and an Arizona Democrat, said in a statement.<\/p>\r\n

Orphaned oil and gas wells do not have owners legally responsible for plugging, or closing, the wells. Although they are no longer in use, without a cap, they continue to emit methane.<\/p>\r\n

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has identified roughly 200 potential orphaned oil and gas wells<\/a> around the state.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a very lucky state in that we\u2019re not like Texas or Louisiana or Ohio; we don’t have hundreds of thousands of these \u2013 we have hundreds,\u201d said Tina LePage, remedial projects section manager for the ADEQ.<\/p>\r\n \"Arizona<\/a>

Potential and verified orphaned wells, as of April 2024, spread out across Arizona with a collection in the northeastern part of the state — an area bordering the Navajo Nation. Map courtesy of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

Nationwide, nearly 4.6 million Americans live within a half-mile of an abandoned mine or well, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAny orphan well is a health issue,\u201d said Hazel Chandler, a field coordinator with the Arizona chapter of Moms Clean Air Force, a climate advocacy group. \u201cWe\u2019re at a choice point \u2013 if we don’t act on addressing the amount of pollutants we\u2019re putting in our air, very quickly our planet will continue to unravel.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

In addition to the environmental impacts of the well, costs associated with remediation are also a concern.<\/p>\r\n

Curtis Shuck, founder of the Well Done Foundation, an organization focused on plugging wells, believes oil and gas companies should be held accountable to limit federal funding needed for remediation.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI felt very strongly, and we still do as an organization, that this isn’t a taxpayer responsibility. The taxpayer didn\u2019t get us into this trouble, taxpayers shouldn\u2019t have to bail us out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n

When the ownership of oil or gas wells is untraceable, the remediation responsibility falls to federal, local or tribal governments.<\/p>\r\n

Last month, Interior announced more than $12 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help four Tribal Nations clean up orphaned oil and gas wells on their homelands. \r\n\r\nLearn more: <\/p>Posted by U.S. Department of the Interior<\/a> on Monday, September 16, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>

<\/p>\r\n

The Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Agriculture oversee wells on federal lands. In Arizona, the ADEQ runs its own remediation program with the Arizona Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for wells on state and private property. Tribal nations in the state are responsible for remediation on their lands.<\/p>\r\n

Both the ADEQ and the Navajo Nation<\/a> have received federal funding from the Biden-Harris administration. Shuck said federal funding acts as a bailout and isn\u2019t a long-term solution.<\/p>\r\n

The state was granted $25 million in 2022 from the DOI. The grant will fund the Orphaned Oil and Gas Well Program, which began in October 2022 and will run until December 2025.<\/p>\r\n

The program is locating potential orphaned wells, plugging the wells using cement to seal off areas where oil and gas are found within the well and then remediating the site if the surrounding landscape was significantly disrupted.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to maximize the funding we have for the plugging of those wells. We anticipate utilizing every one of those dollars to finish as many of the wells as possible,\u201d LePage with the ADEQ said.<\/p>\r\n

To date, the ADEQ has located 80 wells with 38 of them in line to be plugged, LePage said.<\/p>\r\n

Identifying and locating the wells is phase one of a four-phase program the ADEQ will run until the end of 2025.<\/p>\r\n

Navajo Nation and U.S Department of Energy partner to identify orphaned wells to plug\r\n\r\nWINDOW ROCK, Ariz. \u2013 Navajo…<\/p>Posted by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren<\/a> on Tuesday, August 27, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>

<\/P>\r\n

In late August, the DOI awarded the Navajo Nation $5 million<\/a> to plug 19 identified wells.<\/p>\r\n

Additionally, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren signed a memorandum of understanding<\/a> with the Department of Energy outlining their willingness to work together and plug orphaned wells across the tribal nation.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWhile all of us are forced to bear the financial burden, it\u2019s the nearby communities, many of which are tribes, that disproportionately face the health issues caused by contaminated water wells, leaking methane, and other environmental hazards in their day-to-day lives,\u201d Grijalva said in a statement.<\/p>\r\n

Shuck, founder of the Well Done Foundation, noted that \u201corphan wells don\u2019t discriminate, they\u2019re everyone\u2019s problem.\u201d However, wells located in lower-income communities tend to move to the top of the priority list for the organization.<\/p>\r\n

The Bureau of Land Management, one of the DOI bureaus responsible for remediation, only had one well on its federal land in Arizona. The bureau completed remediation of the well last summer, said Rem Hawes, a spokesperson for the Arizona office of the BLM.<\/p>\r\n

Matt Warren, senior petroleum engineer at BLM, said the bureau\u2019s orphaned well determination process is different from the process state agencies take. The BLM is able to trace more records and hold past owners accountable. This minimizes the number of wells needing remediation from the federal government.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFor orphaned wells, we don’t have a lot right now because of that process and because of the different tools that we have to protect taxpayers from having to plug everything for these wells,\u201d Warren said.<\/p>\r\n

Grijalva said the funding from the Biden-Harris administration is an improvement, but plugging orphan wells is \u201ca problem that the American people shouldn\u2019t be forced to fix in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for us to hold oil and gas companies accountable for paying to clean up their own messes,\u201d Grijalva said in his statement.<\/p>\r\n

Shuck also asked for accountability but said remediation still needs to be done.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThis is really about doing the right thing and cleaning up after ourselves, or cleaning up after others who didn’t clean up after themselves,\u201d Shuck said.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFor more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>. It is published via a Creative Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM>
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