Ecosystem services benefits from the restoration of non-producing US oil and gas lands

Chomphosy, William Haden; Varriano, Sofia; Lefler, Luke; Nallur, Varenya; McClung, Maureen R.; Moran, Matthew D.

doi:10.1038/s41893-021-00689-4

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…This recommendation would be a way to limit further ecosystem services loss for the region (Jordaan et al, 2021) and maintain an ecologically well-functioning landscape. Furthermore, restoration of lands on defunct infrastructure (e.g., inactive oil and gas wells) in select regions could be an effective mitigation strategy to further strengthen connectivity on high quality regions while energy development continues or expands in currently heavily impacted areas (McClung and Moran, 2018;Haden Chomphosy et al, 2021;Jordaan et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing Impacts of Future Renewable Energy Development on the World's Desert Ecosystems

McClung

Moran

2022

Front. Sustain.

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Renewable energy development is rapidly increasing across the world, providing affordable and more environmentally sustainable energy to many populations. However, renewable energy, such as solar and wind, can have large land footprints through conversion and modification of natural habitats. One of the more intact habitats on Earth is the desert biome, which contains large areas of roadless regions and, in some places, high biodiversity. Since they are often windy and sunny, desert regions also tend to be rich in renewable energy resources. Using publicly available geospatial data, we calculated that the highest resource areas for wind overlap with 79% of roadless areas and the highest resource areas for solar overlap 28% of roadless areas, globally. High resource wind and solar areas overlap high plant diversity regions by 56 and 79%, respectively, but because high plant diversity desert areas are localized, these overlap areas represent a tiny proportion of the total potentially economically valuable wind and solar regions. These results suggest that desert regions remaining ecologically intact are at risk from renewable energy development. However, strategic siting in abundant, lower quality desert areas might mitigate this issue, especially when areas already impacted by human activity are available. Selected regions presented in detail demonstrate the risks to these habitats and strategies to minimize ecosystem damage. We urge governments and industries to consider placement of wind and solar energy projects that minimize environmental impacts to lands that, up to this point, remain relatively untransformed by human activities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing Impacts of Future Renewable Energy Development on the World's Desert Ecosystems

McClung

Moran

2022

Front. Sustain.

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“…If, on the other hand, surface reclamation is a priority for environmental, aesthetic, job creation, or other reasons, our results will help policymakers quantify the costs associated with achieving those additional benefits (and perhaps adjust bonding requirements accordingly). One recent analyses suggests that restoring the surface can have large ecosystem service benefits, 26 though these benefits will vary considerably by region and land use type.…”

Section: Discussion and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another recent analysis 26 estimates substantial ecosystem service benefits from decommissioning wells, including agricultural use, CO2 sequestration, and other services. The authors estimate that the present value of ecosystem service benefits from restoring the surface at 430,000 well sites would be $21 billion, or $49,000 per well.…”

Section: Risks Of Unplugged Abandoned Wellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decommissioning Orphaned and Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells: New Estimates and Cost Drivers

Raimi¹,

Krupnick²,

Shih³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Millions of abandoned wells are scattered across the United States, causing significant methane emissions and creating a variety of health and environmental hazards. Governments are increasingly interested in decommissioning such wells via tougher regulations or direct spending, but want to do so efficiently. However, information on the costs of decommissioning wells is very limited. In this analysis, we provide new estimates of the costs of decommissioning oil and gas wells and the key drivers of those costs. We analyze data from up to 19,500 wells and find that median decommissioning costs are roughly $20,000 for plugging only, and $76,000 for plugging and surface reclamation. In rare cases, costs exceed $1 million per well. Each additional 1,000 feet of well depth increases costs by 20 percent, older wells are considerably more costly than newer ones, natural gas wells are nine percent more expensive than wells that produce oil, and costs vary widely by state. Surface characteristics also matter: each additional 10 feet of elevation change in the 5-acre area surrounding the well raises costs by three percent. Finally, we find that contracting in bulk pays off: each additional well per contract reduces decommissioning costs by three percent. These findings suggest that regulators can adjust bonding requirements to better match the characteristics of each well.

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“…Another recent analysis 27 estimates substantial ecosystem services benefits from decommissioning wells, including restored agricultural use, CO 2 sequestration, and other services (Again, the analysis excludes methane emissions mitigation.). The authors estimate that the present value of ecosystem services benefits from restoring the surface at 430,000 well sites in the United States would be roughly $21 billion or $49,000 per well.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decommissioning Orphaned and Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells: New Estimates and Cost Drivers

Raimi

Krupnick

Shah

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Millions of abandoned oil and gas wells are scattered across the United States, causing methane emissions and other environmental hazards. Governments are increasingly interested in decommissioning these wells but want to do so efficiently. However, information on the costs of decommissioning wells is very limited. In this analysis, we provide new cost estimates for decommissioning oil and gas wells and key cost drivers. We analyze data from up to 19,500 wells and find median decommissioning costs are roughly $20,000 for plugging only and $76,000 for plugging and surface reclamation. In rare cases, costs exceed $1 million per well. Each additional 1,000 feet of well depth increases costs by 20%, older wells are more costly than newer ones, natural gas wells are 9% more expensive than wells that produce oil, and costs vary widely by state. Surface characteristics also matter: each additional 10 feet of elevation change in the 5-acre area surrounding the well raises costs by 3%. Finally, we find that contracting in bulk pays: each additional well per contract reduces decommissioning costs by 3% per well. These findings suggest that regulators can adjust bonding requirements to better match the characteristics of each well.

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Ecosystem services benefits from the restoration of non-producing US oil and gas lands

Cited by 21 publications

References 63 publications

Minimizing Impacts of Future Renewable Energy Development on the World's Desert Ecosystems

Minimizing Impacts of Future Renewable Energy Development on the World's Desert Ecosystems

Decommissioning Orphaned and Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells: New Estimates and Cost Drivers

Decommissioning Orphaned and Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells: New Estimates and Cost Drivers

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