Wednesday, February 28th at Noon ET
On Wednesday, February 28th at Noon ET, we launched a new report with our friends at the Ohio River Valley Institute. The report details how many jobs can be created from new methane reduction funding from the EPA, focusing on the impacts for Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
Watch the recording here:
A total of $1.3 billion in federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) across the four states can finance jobs to decommission orphaned wells and remediate well sites. Methane leaks from oil and gas wells comprise a significant share of climate-warming methane emissions in the four-state region, which is home to an estimated 816,000 total wells.
Decommissioning orphaned and abandoned wells can significantly reduce the region’s methane emissions, improving public health outcomes and even increasing crop yields. The report outlines policy recommendations to ensure decommissioning jobs are safe, well-paying and union, including enacting tax credits that incentivize skilled worker training, incentivizing union contracts, and ensuring prevailing wages. Each of the four states have above-average union coverage across sectors, including among well commissioning jobs in the construction sector. The recommendations have the added benefit of ensuring taxpayers get the biggest bang for their buck with high quality work, and that federal grants funds stay in local communities and help increase the number of skilled workers.