This morning, the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the Natural Resources Defense Council submitted a formal petition to the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) urging prompt action to finally modernize the bonding requirements for federal onshore oil and gas leasing and development.

Bonds paid by oil and gas companies that lease public lands and minerals for drilling are meant to cover the cost of cleaning up wells at the conclusion of operations or — as is increasingly the case — when a company declares bankruptcy and orphans its wells.

However, in spite of inflation, bonding rates for federal leases have not been updated in more than 60 years — a “significant shortcoming” identified by DOI in a review of the oil and gas leasing program released in November 2021. In the petition submitted today, groups note that no action has been taken to fix this problem even as new oil and gas lease sales are scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.

As a member of WORC, our Alliance has been strongly supporting the advancement of this petition. Alliance member Barbara Vasquez spoke this morning at a telepresser event underscoring the need for immediate action to address the federal orphaned well crisis. As Barbara said this morning, “Unfortunately, current federal bonding rules incentivize operators to hold zombie wells in theoretical production, delaying end-of-life costs indefinitely. When an operator decides the wells are no longer useful, with bond levels so low, it’s pretty painless for them relinquish the bonds and abandon the wells, leaving the tax payers with the cleanup costs.”

Our members know the importance of protecting our public lands, and remain committed to preserving them for future generations to come.

Please download and read the petition to learn more!