CNN: "Interior Department Announces $33M to Clean Up 277 Methane-Spewing Wells on Federal Land. There Are Millions More."

Fellow Daniel Raimi reflects on his research about the cost of plugging abandoned oil and gas wells for a story on new funding to clean up idle wells.

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Date

May 27, 2022

News Type

Media Highlight

Source

CNN

Cleaning up abandoned wells is a big, costly project.

Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit research group focused on energy and environment issues, said that the average cost to clean up a single well is $75,000, but can range widely from $10,000 to over $1 million, depending on the age and depth of the well.

"$4.7 billion should get you [capping] somewhere around 60,000 oil and gas wells," Raimi said. "That's a good start, but it's just a start."

Read the piece for more insight from Fellow Daniel Raimi.

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Daniel Raimi

Fellow

Daniel Raimi is a fellow and director of the Equity in the Energy Transition Initiative at RFF. He works on a range of energy policy issues with a focus on tools to enable an equitable energy transition.

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