'Nobody cares': Sparks fly at oil well, mine cleanup hearing

"What is front and center on the minds of Americans right now are the unaffordable cost of energy," said Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.)

April 01, 2022

Lawmakers clashed during a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing yesterday about efforts to clean up abandoned wells and mines. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) said "nobody cares" about a hearing on orphan oil and gas wells when prices at the pump are so high. He was echoing familiar GOP complaints about Democrats focusing on issues like climate change and the environment instead of energy inflation.

The bipartisan infrastructure law, dubbed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, directed a historic $16 billion toward legacy fossil fuel cleanup efforts. The Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee wanted to survey the progress. But Graves said, "What is front and center on the minds of Americans right now are the unaffordable cost of energy." He blamed Democrats and President Biden for the high prices and demanded more oversight of the administration.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) accused Republican colleagues of "grandstanding” and being beholden to oil and gas companies. "I really wanted to talk about the subject at hand, but I feel like something has to be said during this parroting of oil industry talking points," he said. "The fossil fuel industry got us into this mess. Why should we turn to them for the solution?" Steve Feldgus, Interior deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, who appeared to testify about abandoned well and mine cleanup efforts, took the brunt of Republican criticism of the administration's energy policy.

Natural Resources ranking member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) quizzed Feldgus on the five-year leasing plan for offshore oil and gas. The current five-year plan, penned during the Trump administration, sunsets in June. A draft for a new plan has yet to be released. As Feldgus was trying to answer, Westerman said, "It’s not going to happen, because you all aren’t trying to make it happen." Feldgus said federal lands last year produced the most energy in 20 years. He also said the backlogged number of permits to drill had gone down since Biden took office.

Best practices, acid mine drainage

The orphan well cleanup efforts seek to address roughly 130,000 oil and gas wells abandoned on state and private lands. There's also a backlog of abandoned coal mines from before passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act in 1977. Feldgus said the administration was making progress on tribal grants for orphan well cleanups following meetings with tribes earlier this year. He said the total number of sites in Indian Country needing attention remained unknown. "In many places, the people and the lands impacted by oil and gas, coal, and other mineral development have been neglected for far too long, while the potential benefits of remediation to communities, water, wildlife, the climate and local economies have been overlooked," he said. "The legacy pollution cleanup programs in the [infrastructure law] will create jobs, improve the environment and revitalize communities across the nation."

John Baza, oil, gas and mining director with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, criticized the administration's proposed best practice rules for cleanup grants. He defended state-level standards as being more efficient. "There should not be conditions attached to the funding limiting the number of wells states can address using their existing protocols," he said. "The federal government should not dictate how those actions should occur." Rebecca Shelton, director of policy and organizing at the Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, expressed support for legislation — S. 3957 and H.R. 7283 — to address a loophole in the infrastructure law. The bill from Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Reps. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) would allow coal mine cleanup dollars to be used for damage to streams from acid mine drainage.

"Orange-colored acid mine drainage kills fish and other wildlife in thousands of miles of streams and rivers in Pennsylvania," Cartwright said about the problem. Other than approving $11 billion for coal mine reclamation, the infrastructure law reauthorized the abandoned mine cleanup program, including a fee on producers. Money for hardrock mine cleanups is pending in the Democrats' budget reconciliation plan (E&E Daily, Oct. 29, 2021).

Shelton called on the administration to announce a nominee to lead the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which handles coal mine oversight at Interior. Subcommittee Chair Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) also asked about the opening. Feldgus said an OSMRE director was a “very high priority” for the administration. “We're hoping to fill that position shortly," he said.


By:  Heather Richards
Source: E&E Daily