The National Park Service has received approximately $9.8 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to plug, remediate and reclaim abandoned oil and gas well sites in seven national parks.
Overall, bureaus within the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture will address 277 high-priority wells that pose threats to human health and safety, the climate, wildlife and natural resources.
Among the seven national parks, including 20 wells in Texas in the Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP) and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
National Park Service staff at Big Thicket and the Geologic Resources Division are partnering with the Texas Railroad Commission to develop a work plan for 7 wells that have been selected for plugging and remediation.
Big Thicket is one of the Park Service’s largest “oil and gas” parks by number of wellbores drilled. Oil and gas drilling and production have taken place in this area long before the preserve came into existence and there are a variety of different challenges facing Big Thicket and the Texas Railroad Commission regarding these projects.
All the wells are orphaned and located in a variety of habitats in Big Thicket. Some of the wells are close to the road, giving ease of access for remediation but increasing the possibility of contamination for visitors while other wells are in remote areas, making it extremely hard to access for remediation work.
Millions of Americans across the country live within just one mile from an abandoned coal mine or an orphaned oil and gas well. These legacy pollution sites are environmental hazards and jeopardize public health and safety by contaminating groundwater, emitting noxious gases like methane, littering the landscape with rusted and dangerous equipment, creating flooding and sinkhole risks, and harming wildlife.
“Work on the well sites will take place over three phases, including site evaluations, plugging and cleaning the site and remediation of the site,” states Superintendent Wayne Prokopetz “And this work will not only have a profound impact on our environment and water quality but also provides an opportunity for economic revitalization in the area.”
The preserve consists of nine land units and six water corridors encompassing more than 113,000 acres. The Big Thicket, often referred to as a “biological crossroads,” is a transition zone between four distinct vegetation types – the moist eastern hardwood forest, the southwestern desert, the southeastern swamp, and the central prairies.
Species from all these different vegetation types come together in the thicket, exhibiting a variety of vegetation and wildlife that has received global interest.
Find general information about Big Thicket National Preserve at our website (nps.gov/bith/index.htm) or call the preserve visitor center at (409) 951-6700. Visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 424 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities.