$25 million headed to plug abandoned wells in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – About $25 million is headed to Kansas to assist plug deserted oil and water wells.

The Kansas Company Fee says it has been awarded $25 million in grant funds to assist plug deserted wells within the Sunflower State. It mentioned the grant is a part of $1.15 billion earmarked underneath the https://transportation.home.gov/committee-activity/challenge/infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act#:~:textual content=Thepercent20Infrastructurepercent20Investmentpercent20andpercent20Jobs,createpercent20goodpercent2Dpayingpercent20unionpercent20jobs. to assist remediate deserted oil and fuel wells.

The KCC mentioned a complete of $4.7 billion has been allotted over the following 8 years to plug deserted wells. It’s eligible to obtain one other $33.6 million in future method grant funds.

“These federal grants present Kansas with a one-time alternative to assist handle the problem of deserted wells in Kansas whereas serving to the financial system by offering good paying jobs for a number of years,” mentioned Ryan A. Hoffman, KCC Conservation Division Director.

The KCC famous that it plans to make use of the preliminary $25 million grant to pay for eight tasks to plug greater than 2,300 deserted wells over the following two to 3 years. It mentioned 4 tasks are in Jap Kansas with the others positioned in Central and Western Kansas.

KCC indicated {that a} properly is taken into account “deserted” when it has been completely taken out of manufacturing, isn’t correctly plugged to forestall doable air or groundwater air pollution, and the rightful authorized proprietor can’t be discovered or take duty.

Whereas the federal grants will assist scale back the overall variety of deserted wells within the Sunflower State, they’re inadequate to deal with all the challenge. It wills until depend on industry-generated funds to plug the hundreds of remaining wells after the federal program expires.

Greater than 11,000 deserted wells have been plugged because the institution of the state well-plugging fund in 1995. The KCC mentioned oil and fuel drilling within the state started within the 1860s and report retaining by early operators was not as exact as at this time. It mentioned it isn’t unusual for older deserted wells to be discovered by landowners who had been unaware they existed.

“These federal grant funds will present vital help in plugging deserted wells in Kansas. Nevertheless, to adequately shield Kansas freshwater assets, it should even be essential to proceed funding the plugging of deserted wells with state well-plugging fund assets offered by oil and fuel {industry} price assessments,” mentioned Dwight D. Eager, Chair of the KCC.

To view a map of the venture places, click on HERE.

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