KUNM: “Conservation Groups Sue New Mexico Over Deserted Oil and Gas Wells”
A story about a recent lawsuit in New Mexico cites RFF research about the costs of cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells.
“While cleanup costs vary, the average cost for state-contracted plugging has risen to $163,000 in recent years per well.
Alternatively, a 2021 analysis of around 20,000 abandoned and decommissioned wells across the United States by the independent, nonprofit research institution Resources from the Future estimated that median well decommissioning costs are about $20,000 for plugging one well.
That figure rises to $76,000 when accounting for surface reclamation.”
