By David Beard, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito announced that the state will receive $25 million in federal funds to cap 160 orphaned oil and gas wells.
The money comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The U.S. Department of Interior said Thursday that this is the first installment in an overall $1.15 billion in Phase One funding announced in January by the Department for states to plug and remediate orphaned wells. States will receive additional formula funding dollars in the coming months.
State Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Terry Fletcher said DEP’s approach to handling the initial grant phase of the act has been to award regional contracts through the competitive bid process to well-plugging vendors…
