A group of oil and gas-producing states is calling on the Trump administration to employ laid-off oil and gas workers to clean up and cap abandoned well sites. The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a consortium of 31 states, said last week it had asked the DOE for stimulus funds “to help keep oil and gas crews working during the current crisis.” The approximately 3 million “orphaned” oil and gas wells in the U.S. leach pollutants into groundwater and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. A $2 billion orphan well fund could support tens of thousands of jobs in oil and gas states, and “will put hundreds and thousands of people back to work, with minimal training and with minimal relocation” Kate Kelly, the public lands director at the Center for American Progress, which supports the initiative, told Public News Service. (Reuters, Public News Service)
