Last week, Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright testified before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources where he spoke in favor of bipartisan legislation to provide states with more flexibility to utilize the orphan well plugging funds provided to states under the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act.
H.R. 7053, the Orphan Well Grant Flexibility Act, would provide states flexibility when it comes to methane monitoring of orphan wells through the Department of the Interior (DOI) Formula Grant program.
“The methane monitoring requirements under the DOI’s current Formula Grant increases the cost to plug these wells,” said Commissioner Wright. “For states with large orphan well populations, increasing plugging costs by 10% means that ultimately there will be 10% fewer wells plugged with these funds.”
