White House offers states more than $1B to cap methane-producing wells

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Monday announced a series of measures aimed at reducing methane emissions, including more than $1 billion in state grants to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells.

Under the program, the Interior Department will award $1.15 billion to 26 eligible states, collectively representing nearly every state with documented orphan wells in the country, the White House said in a statement.

Many of the orphaned wells -- identified as a major source of methane emissions -- are located in rural communities and communities of color "that have suffered from years of divestment," according to the administration.

"Plugging these wells will not only reduce methane emissions and stop dangerous pollution, but it will create good-paying, union jobs and spur economic revitalization, especially in hard-hit energy communities," officials said.

The funding represents the first tranche of $4.7 billion earmarked for the purpose under the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year.

The EPA says about 40% of the nation's 2.7 million abandoned oil wells and 600,000 gas wells are unplugged, and they emitted an estimated 263,000 metric tons of methane in 2019.

Other anti-methane measures will be taken by the departments of Energy, Transportation and Agriculture under the umbrella of Biden's U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which was first announced in November during the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

The plan is a whole-of-government approach that focuses on cutting methane from the United States' largest emitting sources with emphasis on the oil and gas industry, which accounts for 30% of methane emissions, followed by enteric fermentation at 27%, landfills at 17%, manure management at 10%, other sources at 9% and coal mining at 7%.

A series of other anti-methane programs were also initiated on Monday.

They include a Department of Energy initiative providing technical assistance to the well clean-up efforts undertaken by federal agencies, states and tribes; a Department of Transportation move enforcing laws requiring pipeline operators to minimize methane leaks; and a Department of Agriculture effort boosting research efforts and investments to reduce methane emissions from beef and dairy systems.