The Louisiana Senate approved a bill April 4 that would position Louisiana to receive nearly $200 million in federal grants to fix orphaned oil and gas wells, reports Louisiana Illuminator.
Senate Bill 245, sponsored by Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, passed unanimously in a 38-0 vote without any debate on the floor. It will head to the House for consideration.
The legislation would give the state Department of Natural Resources more flexibility in how much it can spend to plug and restore abandoned or “orphaned” oil and gas wells in a given fiscal year.
There are roughly 4,600 orphaned oil and gas wells across Louisiana, many of which are leaking and polluting the environment. The total price tag to fix all of them has been estimated to be around $650 million. Read the entire story.
