Government announces orphaned well clean-up to create jobs, help pollution
OKLAHOMA CITY —
The government has announced an orphaned well clean-up to create jobs and help pollution.
$1.4 billion will be used to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells. The administration claims that these wells have plagued under-represented communities.
A good portion of that money will be coming to Oklahoma.
The White House said that they’ll use up to $78 million to cap Oklahoma’s orphaned wells that they say pollute places as small as backyards and as large as public recreation areas.
“These oil and gas wells leak methane, they add to our deteriorating climate, they cause legacy pollution,” said Winnie Stachelberg, the senior advisor at the Department of Interior.
The Department of Interior said that there are more than 100,000 documented abandoned oil wells across the country. The department said that these plugging and clean-up projects will create good-paying jobs.
“First their eligible for $53 million in funding to plug and cap orphan oil and gas wells but there are $78 million in total that the state is eligible for,” Stachelberg said.