Wyoming Gov Gordon Passes on Federal Funds to "Voluntarily" Close Oil and Gas Wells
The federal program is offering $5 million to close low-producing and idle wells to prevent errant methane gas emissions, state says it will harm industry.
If New York and California are leading the way in following the United Nation’s Agenda to end fossil fuels, than it’s safe to say that Wyoming is leading the way in preserving Energy Independence and basic American Freedom.
Governor Mark Gordon is rejecting funding from the Biden Administration that is harmful to Wyoming’s economy and interests by using federal Inflation Reduction Act dollars to shut down producing Wyoming oil wells.
The Emissions Reduction Program offers a total of $350 million to states under the guise of reducing methane emissions. The target is low-volume oil wells, often referred to as stripper wells. Stripper wells provide about 10% of the state’s oil production and generate about $265 million annual revenue to Wyoming.
Wyoming’s share from the Biden Administration program would have been approximately $5 million.
“This approach – concocted by DC bureaucrats – shows a complete disregard for the importance of this industry to Wyoming’s economy,” Governor Gordon said. “These are wells that have, and will continue to produce, significant amounts of oil; provide jobs through hundreds of small businesses; and generate revenues for schools, the state and local government.”
Even without this funding Wyoming leads the nation in plugging abandoned and orphan wells. Since the coal bed methane boom, Wyoming has spent about $35 million plugging orphan wells so far.
The orphan well program is funded by bonds provided by oil and gas operators as well as a conservation tax paid on sales of oil and gas.
For its part, Wyoming monitors oil and gas facility emissions and administers an industry-funded program to close idle and abandoned wells.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality oversees a “leak detection and repair” program that monitors facilities and encourages operators to install leak control technologies. The agency uses infrared cameras to monitor facilities for methane leaks, and requires operators to plug them.
The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission requires “idle well” bonding so that individual operators cover the expense of closing their own wells. If individual bonds don’t cover the cost, the state dips into an orphan-well account funded via a “conservation tax” paid by oil and gas operators.
Wyoming increased bonding requirements after documenting some 6,020 orphaned wells in the wake of the coal-bed methane gas boom in the 2000s.
Since, conservation groups have urged the federal government to follow suit.
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