Louisiana Makes Strides In Plugging Orphan Oil Wells

An abandoned oil or gas rocking machine against a blue sky, exhausted resource. Clogged field of gas and oil production.

Photo: Detry26 / iStock / Getty Images

The state is making progress in plugging Louisiana's 4,600 orphan oil wells.

They're called orphan wells because the responsible operator went out of business or is unable or unwilling to maintain the site.

The state ordinarily caps about 160 orphan wells a year, but with funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, nearly 600 have been plugged since January.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams recently visited Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge, where eleven wells have been plugged.

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