CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (WVDEP) Office of Oil and Gas (OOG) will hold three public meetings in November to gather input on what factors should be used to create a ranking system for selecting marginal conventional wells (MCWs) to be plugged. These meetings are part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP), a grant funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted by Congress in August 2022.
The OOG, which regulates oil and gas drilling activity in West Virginia, has an extensive list of MCWs in its inventory. MCWs are idle or low-producing oil and gas wells that may pose environmental and safety risks, but still belong to a responsible owner. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides significant funding to help states plug and reclaim these wells.
What is MERP?…