Methane Reduction Tracking

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contains provisions to measure or estimate and track methane associated with orphaned wells. Methane may leak from orphaned wells in various ways. For consistency across federal, state and Tribal orphaned well programs, the Department provides guidelines to measure and track methane associated with orphaned wells. The guidelines are linked under Resources below.  

Resources

Types of methane leaks from orphaned wells 

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Diagram showing ways that methane can leak from well holes and the ground.
  1. Open well hole. 
  2. Open well hole and soils around the well hole caused by subsurface fractures in the well bore. 
  3. Multiple valves, connectors or cracks at the legacy well head or other infrastructure associated with the well. 
  4. The soils around the well hole.  
  5. The well opening after a heavy rainfall event or snowmelt in the spring when the groundwater forces methane that has permeated in the soil back into the well hole. 

 

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