The Osage Nation in Oklahoma was one of two Indian tribes that joined the Department of Energy this week in a program aimed at locating undocumented abandoned oil and natural gas wells.
The Osage and Navajo Nations signed memorandums of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Office of Resource Sustainability to develop a framework for identified the undocumented abandoned wells on tribal lands.
“Osage Nation has a well-known history of assault and neglect on our land, which has left us with harmful chemicals leaking into the environment,” said Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear.
“Our efforts to rehabilitate our land are well underway, and while the damage we are finding is extensive, this partnership with the DOE significantly contributes to our ability to make the Osage Nation Reservation a safer environment for all. Additionally, the MOU highlights the importance of federal and tribal governments working in collaboration.”
The Osage Nation governs all mineral aspects in Osage County and controls their development.
Ryan Peay, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Resource Sustainability in DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management said it’s estimated there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented orphan wells leaking methane across the U.S.
“This collaboration with the Osage and Navajo Nations represents a significant step forward in harnessing innovative technologies that not only support Federal and tribal efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of undocumented orphan wells, but also in prioritizing environmental stewardship of tribal lands through workforce training and development investments and efforts.”
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren called the memorandum another step in the right direction of keeping families safe on the Navajo Nation.
“We need initiatives like this MOU to start to help us rehabilitate and restore our territory and reduce the health burdens associated with orphaned wells.”
The term “orphaned well” refers to those oil and natural gas wells that have ceased production and no longer fulfill their intended functions. These wells lack a responsible owner or operator who can effectively seal them off and restore the surrounding site. UOWs are wells that lack an operator of record (orphan well), and do not exist in regulators’ inventories.
In conjunction with the Department of the Interior’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law efforts, FECM has been tasked with dedicating $30 million over a span of five years to develop innovative technologies, create “best practices”, and support broad field campaigns focused on the identification and surface-based assessment of UOWs through the Consortium Advancing Technology for Assessment of Lost Oil & Gas Wells (CATALOG) program.
Through the MOU with the Osage Nation, the CATALOG program has already provided direct field support for UOW identification, emissions monitoring and measurement, and environmental impact assessment. The MOU with the Navajo aims to expand the CATALOG footprint over a different geographical/geological area, developing robust technologies that can work across the nation.
As these MOUs are advanced, DOE and the Osage and Navajo Nations will seek to establish best practices that can serve as models for other communities to reduce methane emissions and other environmental impacts associated with UOWs.