In Pa. Visit, Biden Proposes $16 Billion For Plugging Abandoned Oil And Gas Wells

President Joe Biden's infrastructure spending plan earmarks $16 billion to plug abandoned oil and gas wells across the country.

It's a potential solution for an expensive and overwhelming problem for Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). During House budget hearings last month, DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell told lawmakers the department spends an average of $17,000 plugging one abandoned well.

The cost means fewer than 1,100 orphaned wells have been plugged in the last decade. The department said it's identified 8,000 wells that it needs to address, though estimates...