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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Land Management has awarded 13 Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts to address ongoing legacy pollution and safety hazards from orphaned oil and gas wells throughout the United States. These contracts create efficient and centralized options for the Department of the Interior, U.S. Forest Service, and Tribal land managers to work with small businesses and Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises on well plugging and remediation operations. Orphaned wells pose a threat to local air and water quality and are a source of climate warming emissions.

The IDIQ contracts will expand capacity for participating agencies and Tribes to leverage funding provided under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and from other funding streams for well remediation activities. As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law delivers the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history, including through a $4.7 billion investment to plug orphaned wells. These legacy pollution sites are environmental hazards and jeopardize public health and safety by contaminating groundwater, emitting noxious gases and methane, littering the landscape with rusted and dangerous equipment, and harming wildlife.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $4.7 billion investment is divided into three programs: $4.3 billion to be used to plug orphaned wells on state and private lands; $250 million to cap orphaned wells on public lands, including in national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges; and $150 million to cap orphaned wells on Tribal lands.  

“Today’s announcement is a major step forward in protecting our clean air and water and addressing the climate crisis” said Bureau Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “As we work to implement the Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the BLM will work closely with our Federal partners and with small and Indian-owned businesses across the country to address the blight of orphaned oil and gas wells.”

All contracts were awarded to small businesses with two of four regional contracts reserved for Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise entities under the Buy Indian Act.

The small business awardees are:

• Axiom Exploration Group LLC of Anchorage, Alaska
• Hydrocarbon Well Services, Inc. of Buckhannon, West Virginia
• North Wind Site Services LLC of Murray, Utah
• Olgoonik Construction Services LLC of Anchorage, Alaska
• E2 Contracting, Inc. of Irvine, California

The Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise awardees are:

• ASRC Consulting & Environmental Services, LLC of Anchorage, Alaska
• Brice Solutions, LLC of Anchorage, Alaska
• Olgoonik Construction Services LLC of Anchorage, Alaska
• North Wind Site Services LLC of Murray, Utah

Plugging orphaned wells will help advance the goals of the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, as well as the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, which focus on spurring economic revitalization in hard hit energy communities while cutting pollution from the largest sources of methane emissions.