Millions of dollars are being spent at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and Gauley River National Recreation Area to clean up abandoned oil and gas well sites/NPS file

Nearly $10 million is being spent at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and Gauley River National Recreation Area in West Virginia to restore areas impacted years ago by oil and gas well sites that have since been abandoned. Overall, bureaus within the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture will address 277 high-priority wells that pose threats to human health and safety, the climate, wildlife and natural resources.

“Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enables us to tackle legacy pollution issues caused by past extraction activities in national parks,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “Closing and reclaiming abandoned oil and gas wells will alleviate these environmental hazards that jeopardize health and safety by contaminating groundwater, emitting noxious gases, and littering the landscape.” 

In Gauley River National Recreation Area, an orphaned well will be plugged with cement, capped, and the associated equipment taken away. Three feet of protruding pipe will be left standing at the site. The access road will be reseeded with native grasses by spring 2023. This natural gas well, one of about 20 in the park, dates from the 1950s and has been inactive for around 20 years. Some wells in the park remain active with mineral rights in private ownership while surface land is under federal ownership.  

The Park Service estimates that 150-180 wells in parks throughout the country are abandoned or orphaned and need to be plugged and reclaimed. This $9.8 million allocation for New River and Gauley River is part of $250 million provided by the law to clean up orphaned wells and well sites on federal public lands, including national parks, national wildlife refuges and national forests. Fiscal Year 2022 funding will be distributed to four agencies for work in nine states: the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the USDA Forest Service. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a $1  trillion investment  in  America’s infrastructure that will rebuild America’s roads  and  bridges, tackle the climate crisis, and  advance environmental justice. This  vital infusion of funds will make meaningful progress addressing environmental and infrastructure concerns in national parks, including wildland fire safety/restoration efforts, climate crisis intervention, legacy pollution eradication and clean energy enhancements.