MO Dept of Natural Resources receives $5 million to plug abandoned Vernon County oil wells

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will receive more than $5 million from the U.S. Department of the Interior to plug hundreds of abandoned oil wells. The project, which will focus on former oil production sites in Vernon County, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027.

“While no evidence suggests that either the state’s groundwater or surface water currently is affected by these abandoned wells, with no operators being on site, we’d like to proactively mitigate any risk for potential pollution,” said State Geologist and Missouri Geological Survey Director Carey Bridges in a press release.

According to Chris Wood, oil and gas unit chief for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the focus of the project will be 238 wells of varying types for which there are records, as well as their associated tank batteries. The Missouri Geological Survey's Well Installation Section will oversee the plugging operations. A total of $5.1 million was awarded by the U.S. Department of the Interior through its Orphaned Well Program Office.

"They will be assessed for methane leakage. And then, we will go ahead and plug the wells and remove all the infrastructure from the surrounding area and remediate the area to the way it was before," Wood said.

This funding represents the first of several phases of Formula Grant funding authorized by the Revive Economic Growth and Reclaim Orphaned Well Act of 2021. Wood said the remaining five phases will help the department plug approximately 1,900 abandoned oil wells across the state. The work in Vernon County is scheduled to begin in the next year.

Abandoned wells pose a hazard to human health and the environment by leaking oil into surface and subsurface waters, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. They can also release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. While this does pose a threat to human health, failure to maintain the wells and associated infrastructure can also lead to "wasteful" loss of the natural resource itself.

"By just leaving them open, they're going to continue to leak out oil and salt water, which devastates the plant lie and area all around the wells," Wood said.

If you discover an abandoned well, please report it to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources by submitting a Report an Environmental Concern form. Abandoned wells also may be reported by calling the department at (573) 368-2165 or emailing oilandgas@dnr.mo.gov.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: MoDNR to plug abandoned Vernon County oil wells with $5 million grant