Sponsors (2)
The bill directs modest federal funding to research, detection, and repurposing demonstrations for abandoned wells—potentially improving environmental, health, and economic outcomes for affected communities—while relying on R&D rather than immediate plugging, costing taxpayers modest sums, and risking uneven, industry-favored benefits.
Researchers, universities, and state governments will receive dedicated federal funding ($30M–$35M/year FY2026–2030; ~$161.5M total FY2026–2030) to improve detection and mapping of abandoned wells, enabling faster identification and remediation planning.
Homeowners and rural communities near abandoned wells will gain better protection for drinking water because the research will improve understanding of groundwater impacts and inform remediation priorities and standards.
Rural communities and nearby residents could see reduced methane emissions and other local environmental harms if improved detection and remediation techniques from the research are developed and deployed.
Taxpayers nationwide will fund approximately $161.5 million over FY2026–2030, increasing federal spending that could displace other priorities or require trade-offs in the budget.
Homeowners and rural communities with unsafe abandoned wells may face delays in protection because the bill focuses on research, demonstrations, and repurposing rather than funding immediate large-scale plugging and remediation.
Lower-income or less-resourced states and communities risk being left behind because private-sector and state coordination around research and repurposing could concentrate benefits in wealthier states or with better-capitalized companies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 3, 2025 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress March 3, 2025
Creates a federal research, development, and demonstration program to find, study, plug, remediate, and potentially repurpose abandoned oil-and-gas wells. The program will fund work to improve detection (including remote sensing), lower-cost and lower-carbon plugging methods, study methane and groundwater impacts, and test repurposing for geothermal or carbon storage, with multi-year authorized funding from FY2026–FY2030.