Washington, D.C. — Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) released a proposed rule that includes oil and gas bonding reform for wells drilled on public lands:

“Orphaned oil and gas wells release harmful pollution that puts our watersheds, wildlife, and communities at risk – for too long, taxpayers have been forced to foot the bill for their clean up. My Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act would modernize bonding requirements and ensure that companies cover the costs of future cleanup on our public lands. 

“This proposed rule, which is aligned with my bill, is an important step to fix this broken system.  I look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management to hold oil and gas companies accountable for cleaning up the messes they leave behind.”

Abandoned wells are a major source of climate-harming methane emissions and pose a number of environmental and health risks for nearby communities, yet oil and gas bonding rates intended to ensure operations are cleaned up after service have not been updated since they were set more than fifty years ago. As a result, current bonding rates are wholly insufficient to cover the true costs of cleaning up drilling sites, and taxpayers are ultimately left to foot the bill. 

Bennet has worked to deliver funding to clean up abandoned orphaned wells to keep communities safe and to strengthen bonding requirements to hold companies accountable for future cleanup. In 2020, Bennet introduced the Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act to provide funding for orphan well cleanup and to increase minimum bonding requirements for oil and gas development on public lands to ensure adequate financial resources are available for future cleanup and remediation. Bennet successfully advocated for $4.7 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to plug and remediate orphan oil wells, aligned with his bill. In August, Bennet welcomed an initial $25 million of this funding to cap orphaned oil and gas wells across Colorado. 

The bonding reform included in today’s rule also aligns with Bennet’s Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act and follows Bennet’s letters to the Biden Administration in December 2022 and July 2023 urging them to finish the work envisioned in his bill by reforming our antiquated oil and gas bonding system. 

Bennet also introduced the Public Engagement Opportunity on Public Land Exploration (PEOPLE) Act to restore the public’s vital role in shaping oil and gas leasing decisions on public lands.