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EGLE reports major progress plugging orphan wells, measures modest methane leakage
Summary
EGLE’s Geologic Resources Management Division reported IIJA and state funding have accelerated plugging activity, that an interactive orphan‑well dashboard tracks progress, and that methane measurements indicate relatively modest emissions concentrated in a small number of wells.
Adam Weigandt, director of EGLE’s Geologic Resources Management Division, told the council that Michigan has used Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds and state matches to accelerate orphan‑well plugging and related work.
Weigandt reviewed program history: Michigan’s orphan‑well work formally began in 1996 and has plugged roughly 400 wells since then. He said the division received an initial $25,000,000 IIJA grant (largely spent during the initial multi‑year effort), a $5.8 million formula grant and $10,000,000 in state funds that qualified as a match for a $10,000,000 federal match application; EGLE intends to apply for additional competitive and regulatory improvement grants that could total tens of millions more.
Weigandt described program management: the division maintains a public orphan‑well list, scores and prioritizes sites, contracts field work, and posts progress on a web dashboard. He said the program is roughly 52% of the way through a target set of wells and aims to significantly reduce priority wells by 2027.
On methane, Weigandt said EGLE has taken 358 pre‑ and post‑plugging measurements and identified 62 wells (about 17%) with measurable leaks. He gave aggregated numbers from those measurements: total leaked flow measured across leaking wells of roughly 6,600 grams per hour (EGLE has remediated about 3,700 grams per hour and reported about 2,300 grams per hour remaining to address). Weigandt emphasized Michigan’s geology and the distribution of leak sizes—two large anomalous wells account for a disproportionate share of the measured leakage—and said average leak rates are modest relative to national "super emitter" thresholds.
Council members asked whether the current funding is sufficient. Weigandt said Michigan is better positioned than many states because of its longstanding regulatory program and mapping of well locations, and that IIJA and matching funds turn a one‑time injection into a multi‑year program. He also noted complementary work under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to plug marginal operating wells and an upcoming $500,000 methane study on operating wells to better quantify emissions.
Weigandt concluded that EGLE would continue active well management, tracking metrics designed to keep the percentage of inactive wells below a state target and pressing companies to meet plugging obligations to limit future orphan well liability.
