Padre Island National Seashore will receive $7.1 million to clean up abandoned drilling sites in the park/NPS

Padre Island National Seashore in Texas has been approved to receive $7,115,165 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to restore abandoned oil and gas well sites within the park boundaries.

In addition to the two oil and gas well pads that were restored with BIL funding in 2023, another three pads, once operated by Modena Operating, and a portion of an orphaned oil and gas access road will be restored, including the removal of abandoned infrastructure. These sites will be restored to their original habitat and condition.

Modena Operating abandoned its operations and infrastructure within the park and left the United States in 2012, according to the National Park Service. The park pursued legal remedies to hold them accountable for plugging the wells and reclaiming five well pads they left behind, collecting a $200,000 bond, the maximum allowable at the time.

This BIL-funded project will leverage previous investments made to restore the natural landscape and ecological functions of coastal grasslands, prairie, and wetlands. The work will build upon a 2021 project done in partnership with the Railroad Commission (RRC) of Texas, who successfully plugged ten orphan oil and gas wells and an associated groundwater well in the park. The 2021 project was funded by a $1.3 million award from the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council), the organization responsible for administering a restoration fund created after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.