Congressman Troy Carter Announces $47.3 Million for Louisiana from Infrastructure Law to Create Jobs, Clean Up Orphan Oil and Gas Wells

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Thanks to funding from the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Congressman Troy A. Carter Sr. announced today that Louisiana is eligible for a Phase One payment of $47,396,000 to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells across the state. Louisiana’s lifetime investment from the law for this program is expected to be around $111.5 million, but the state might also receive further funding through the Infrastructure Law’s $1.5 billion state Performance Grant program.

This announcement is part of the wider news from the U.S. Department of the Interior that $1.15 billion in funding is available to states from the Infrastructure Law to create jobs and clean up orphaned oil and gas wells across the country. This is a key initiative of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which allocated a total of $4.7 billion to create a new federal program to address orphan wells and protect the millions of Americans who live within a mile of an orphaned oil or gas well.

“This a critical first step to protect Louisiana’s communities and ecosystems from the hazards of orphan oil and gas wells,” said Congressman Carter. “This funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will finally help state officials address these wells, decrease dangerous methane emissions, and overall make Louisiana a safer and cleaner place to live. These projects will also create jobs and help spur more economic growth in our region and nationwide.”

Louisiana is expected to receive the seventh highest amount of total Phase One funding of all states, and this will help restore and plug the approximately 4,605 orphaned wells statewide. Along with cleaning up these hazardous sites in neighborhoods and public spaces, these investments will create good-paying, union jobs, catalyze economic growth and revitalization, and reduce dangerous methane leaks. Congressman Carter was the only member of the Louisiana House delegation to vote in support of the Infrastructure Law.

Plugging orphaned wells will help the nation hit its environmental and economic goals, such as the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, and the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, which focuses on spurring economic revitalization in the hard-hit energy communities.

In coming weeks, the Department of the Interior will release detailed guidance for states to apply for their Initial Grants. These resources will allow state officials to begin building out their programs, remediating high-priority wells, and collecting additional data regarding the number of orphaned wells in their states. Improvements in state data, combined with more accurate Bureau of Labor Statistics will allow the Department to ensure that the final formula funding for states is pulled from the best information available.  

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