NM Study Finds Almost 200 Orphan Well Sites Near Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Nearly 200 abandoned oil and gas wells are documented within a 30-mile radius of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, according to a recent story published by the Carlsbad Current-Argus.

The caverns contain a complex system of underground caves and filter local groundwater sources which could be susceptible to contamination from the orphaned wells.

The National Parks Conservation Association conducted a study and ranked Carlsbad Caverns as the national park or monument with the second-most nearby abandoned wells in New Mexico. Other parks and monuments include Aztec Ruins National Monument in northwest New Mexico which had 260 abandoned wells within 30 miles of its boundary, and Chaco Culture Historical Park in the same region with 44 orphaned well sites.

Manhattan Project National Historical Park near Los Alamos had seven nearby orphaned wells and Valles Caldera National Preserve just north of Albuquerque had two wells.

Carlsbad Caverns is located in southeastern New Mexico within the perimeter of the Permian Basin.

Nationwide, the study showed there were more than 30,000 orphaned wells within a 30-mile radius of national parks, which could bring pollution in the air and groundwater to the federal public lands.

The study found 214,538 total wells deemed unused or abandoned with 31,737 or about 15 percent within a 30-mile radius of a park.

New Mexico’s congressional members pushed legislation in recent months to fund the clean-up of abandoned wells and increase bonding payments required by companies when establishing well sites to pay for the work when a well is abandoned.

New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan introduced the Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Wells (REGROW) Act to earmark $4.275 billion for well clean-up on state and private lands, $400 million on federal and tribal lands and $32 million for research without adjusting bonding requirements.

In the 2022 budget proposal and recent infrastructure spending package, President Biden called for billions of federal dollars to address abandoned wells across the country.

The fight to clean up New Mexico’s abandoned oil and gas wells could wind up in the court system since WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe-based environmental group, recently filed the group’s intent to sue nearly 350 oil and gas operators for alleged “inaction” in plugging wells per state regulations.

Records show 3,357 wells sit inactive in New Mexico without producing oil or gas in the last 15 months – mostly in the Permian and San Juan basins.

WildEarth Guardians argued that wells that are unproductive for 15 months must be shut in and the land remediated. The group demands that the state must do more to ensure compliance.

The notice also pointed to a recent study commissioned by the New Mexico State Land Office which found an $8.1 billion gap between the cost to clean up New Mexico’s wells and the actual funding the state had for the work.

“These non-producing oil and gas wells are yet another shocking example of how industry is not shouldering the true cost of doing business in New Mexico,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director at WildEarth Guardians. “We have to stop subsidizing this dirty industry, we have to stop letting industry get away with leaving a legacy of pollution for future generations.”

In the Sooner State, the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) has established a program to clean up orphaned and abandoned well sites left by companies that no longer exist. Over 800 projects have been referred for potential restoration but remain unclaimed by landowners. Abandoned well sites are approved for the OERB restoration program by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The OERB website also offers a link to register a well site for cleanup.