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TODAY’S COMPLETE SCRIPT
Wyoming to Receive $25 Million for Orphan Wells Under Infrastructure Bill
As $25 million in federal money from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act flow to Wyoming to address abandoned oil and gas wells, conservationists are urging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to update financial obligations for producers to meet the actual costs of restoring well sites. Comments from Bob LeResche, board member, Powder River Basin Resource Council and Western Organization of Resource Councils.
Intro: President Joe Biden’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is expected to bring more than 300 jobs to Wyoming to clean up and plug so-called orphaned oil and gas wells on public lands. Bob LeResche is a longtime advocate for restoring Wyoming’s iconic landscapes after drilling. He says wells abandoned by oil and gas producers pose a serious hazard for drinking water, agriculture and wildlife habitat.
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:13 "They leak methane, they leak volatile organic compounds which are toxic. And it just lasts forever. The casings will rust out and whatever is down below will come up and spread over the land. They’re very destructive."
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Tag: The U-S Bureau of Land Management requires oil and gas operators to post bonds before drilling to ensure cleanup, but LeResche notes that bonds can be as low as ten thousand dollars on leases with 20 separate wells. Industry groups and operators have pushed back against efforts to make bond amounts equal to the costs of restoration, arguing that price would reduce exploration, limit outputs and increase dependency on foreign energy.
Second Cut: More than 23-hundred well sites have been abandoned by producers in Wyoming, according to a recent Wyofile report. LaResche says most orphans are created when producers sell off leases through layers of limited liability corporations that can declare bankruptcy and walk away, leaving taxpayers on the hook for cleanup.
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:15 "There’s no reason that the federal government should take on the risk, on behalf of us taxpayers, for somebody who’s not going to meet their legal obligation to clean up after themselves. Basically if they can’t afford it, then they are not qualified to purchase the lease."
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Third Cut: Under the infrastructure legislation, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is expected to receive 25 million dollars for well-site restoration. LeResche says that will not solve the underlying problem of current B-L-M policies before drilling begins.
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:12 "BLM does not require enough bonds when they issue a drilling permit to guarantee that the wells will be cleaned up by the companies that should be cleaning them up, that are legally obligated to clean them up."
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OPTIONAL REPORTER WRAP: uses first soundbite(s)
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LEDE: Wyoming is getting some help on orphaned wells from the new infrastructure bill, but some say this will not solve the underlying problem. Eric Galatas (guh-LATT-us) has more.
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1:07 Outcue...I'm Eric Galatas ...
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Note to Editors: Wyofile https://bit.ly/3deXIwD - Reach LeResche at 907-723-2506.
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