Sponsors (2)
The bill funds coordinated research and data collection to reduce environmental and health risks from abandoned wells and to explore low‑carbon repurposing, but it requires taxpayer spending and risks prioritizing repurposing or commercial interests over immediate plugging and remediation while being implemented on a tight timeline.
Researchers, universities, and industry get sustained federal funding ($30M–$35M/year FY2026–2030) to coordinate R&D on abandoned wells, enabling large-scale study and technology development.
Homeowners and local water users in rural areas gain better understanding of groundwater contamination risks and tools to mitigate those risks.
Rural communities could see reduced methane emissions as the program studies abandoned-well emissions and funds detection and monitoring technologies.
If the program emphasizes repurposing research over plugging, some communities could face prolonged exposure to unremediated well hazards.
Taxpayers fund approximately $162.5 million over FY2026–2030 with no guarantee that research will lead to widespread cleanups or risk elimination.
Private-sector involvement could steer efforts toward commercially viable repurposing options instead of the most protective public-health or environmental fixes.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal R&D and demonstration program to locate, study, remediate, and repurpose abandoned oil and gas wells with multi-year authorized funding.
Official title: Amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to require the Secretary of Energy to establish an abandoned wells research, development, and demonstration program, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 3, 2025 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress March 3, 2025
Creates a new federal research, development, and demonstration program to find, study, and remediate abandoned oil and gas wells and to develop low-carbon plugging methods and reuse options (like geothermal or carbon storage). The Department-level Secretary must set up the program within 120 days and coordinate with federal and state agencies, national labs, universities, and private sector partners. Specifies a list of eligible R&D activities (remote sensing and survey techniques, methane emissions research, novel plugging technologies and materials, groundwater impact studies, and repurposing demonstrations) and funds the program with stepped annual authorizations totaling $30.0M in FY2026 up to $35.0M in FY2030.