New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Commission voted Wednesday to adopt new bonding requirements to ensure that operators pay for plugging orphaned oil and gas wells. A report in the Santa Fe New Mexican said the new rules will require financial assurance of $150,000 for high-risk wells, including low-producing and aging wells.
Tannis Fox, attorney at Eugene-based Western Environmental Law Center, said, “After a thorough, evidence-based process, the commission acted to protect our water, our communities and our state budget, ensuring the public isn’t left paying for industry’s messes.” The new rules also tighten requirements for inactive wells by requiring operators to show that wells will return to production. The commission will issue a written final order and publish the new rules in the New Mexico Register, and they will become effective 30 days after publication.
New Mexico’s land office has proposed similar bonding rules for wells on state trust lands, but a decision is pending.
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