IIJA Federal Projects

C&E has submitted its application for initial grant funding through Section 40601 (Orphaned Well Site Plugging, Remediation, and Restoration) of the IIJA. C&E’s plans for the IIJA orphaned well site plugging, remediation, and restoration grant money are to significantly augment the efforts of Louisiana’s existing Oilfield Site Restoration (OSR) Program in addressing Louisiana’s orphaned well sites. At the time of initial notice of the federal program, Louisiana had more than 4,600 wells identified as being orphaned – meaning wells that no longer have a responsive operator. Louisiana’s OSR program had been able to address 120 to 200 or more orphaned wells annually in recent years under its existing state funding model.

C&E applied for the Initial Grant of $25 million outlined by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), which is administering the IIJA orphaned well funding to states through a series of funding phases. In addition to the work of plugging orphaned wells, C&E used Initial Grant funding to establish systems and protocols surrounding elements recommended by DOI - including establishing or revising protocols and programs for methane and water quality testing and monitoring; addressing disproportionate impacts to disadvantaged communities from orphaned wells; and creating jobs to restore oilfield sites. Additionally, Louisiana is looking at other opportunities to establish job training for well site plugging and restoration work.

A portion of the Initial Grant monies was also used to gather additional data on Louisiana’s orphaned wells and wells likely to become orphaned in the near future, including risk factors for methane emissions. This will provide DOI with the updated information it has requested for future phases of program funding under the announced Formula Grants and Regulatory Improvement Grants.

Federal Documents and Announcements

Guidance documents provided by the Federal Government are included below.

• Initial Grant Guidance
• EPA on Methane - 4/11/2022

Additional documents will be uploaded once they are available.

C&E Submissions and Correspondence

Documents submitted to the Federal Government are collected here.

• Notice of Intent - 12/23/2021 Status - Submitted
• Initial Grant Application - 5/12/2022 Status - Approved
• Revised SF 424A Fillable form; will not open in browser. Right click, "Save As" locally, then open in Adobe.
• List of wells plugged through end of most recent quarter
• DOI Request for Clarification - 6/28/2022
• Response to DOI - 7/1/2022

     IIJA Quarterly Report -  9/30/2023 C&E submitted third quarterly report for the IIJA grant to the DOI covering from July 1, 2023 – September 30, 2023.

     Response to the Formula Grant Guidance – 3/24/23 The Department of Interior has finalized the initial formula grant guidance, and LDENR is in the process of finalizing its application.

Potential Wells in Review Process

C&E is currently reviewing these wells to be included in upcoming IIJA funding work.  This is a potential list of wells, and should not be considered final.  Further, this list will periodically update.

Prospective Contractors

To participate in state funded projects, contractors should complete the OSR New Contractor Application. Contractors interested in applying for federally funded projects are not required to register as an OSR Contractor, but we encourage you to sign up to view state and federal bid projects. See user guide here for the OSR Contractor Program, and follow the link below to log in to the OSR Contractor Program.

The State of Louisiana received $15,661,335 in grant funding available under the Marginal Well Methane Reduction Grant.  This Marginal Well Grant funding, along with the additional IRA funding, provides opportunities for Louisiana to continue to provide jobs, safeguard the environment and safely plug oil and gas wells.

Activities to be performed under this grant include: 1) plugging, remediation, and reclamation of marginal wells and removing associated infrastructure on State or privately owned lands; 2) creation of a Marginal Well ranking system for those wells in the project to include methane monitoring and disparate impacts on disadvantaged communities; 3) creating and maintaining a public website containing information on the use of the grant; 4) developing and implementing a protocol to measure and track (i) emissions of methane and other gases associated with marginal wells and (ii) contamination of groundwater or surface water associated with marginal wells; and/or (5) establishing training programs for the displaced energy workforce and for disadvantaged communities to verify there are opportunities to become qualified for jobs associated with plugging and restoring marginal well sites. 

There are more than 20,000 marginal wells in the state of Louisiana. 

Grant Planning

The Department of Conservation and Energy (C&E) is preparing to bid this grant funding out in coming months.  C&E plans to leverage what it learned from the work associated with the IIJA Initial Grant to develop a successful project plan for the Marginal Wells Grant.  Additionally, C&E is working with Louisiana organizations to develop an outreach system for operators and stakeholders in the state. 

The measurement of methane prior to abandonment is a key component of this grant. C&E will build on its methane measurement experience and resources from the IIJA Initial Grant for this aspect, also.

U.S. DOE Links

Link to Department of Energy Methane Reductions Program:

https://netl.doe.gov/methane-emissions-reduction-program

Link to Award from Department of Energy:

https://netl.doe.gov/project-information?p=FE0032429