Plug Offshore Wells Act

Peter Welch

Democrat · VT · Senator

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

• Edward J. Markey (D-MA)Original· 2026-03-26
• Jeff Merkley (D-OR)Original· 2026-03-26
• Ron Wyden (D-OR)Original· 2026-03-26

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

2026-03-26

Source: Congress.gov

This bill would require oil and gas companies to permanently seal and abandon offshore wells that are no longer in use, preventing them from leaking oil or gas into the ocean. The measure aims to protect marine environments and reduce environmental hazards by ensuring that old drilling operations in federal waters are properly decommissioned rather than left inactive indefinitely.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4239 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4239 To require the Secretary of the Interior to annually submit to Congress, and make publicly available on a website, a report on decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 26, 2026 Mr. Welch (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Markey) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To require the Secretary of the Interior to annually submit to Congress, and make publicly available on a website, a report on decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Plug Offshore Wells Act''. SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT ON DECOMMISSIONING OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS WELLS, PLATFORMS, AND PIPELINES. (a) Definitions.--In this Act: (1) Decommissioning.--The term ``decommissioning'' has the meaning given the term in section 250.1700 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation). (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior. (b) Annual Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress and make publicly available on the website of the Department of the Interior a report that describes, with respect to the preceding calendar year-- (1) the number of applications for decommissioning an offshore oil and gas well, platform, or pipeline that were required to be submitted pursuant to subpart Q of part 250 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations); (2) the number of applications described in paragraph (1) that were received by the Secretary; (3) the number of offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines for which decommissioning did not occur by the date required pursuant to subpart Q of part 250 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations); (4) the number of offshore oil and gas wells and platforms approved for decommissioning in place pursuant to section 250.1750 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); (5) the length of any offshore oil and gas pipelines that-- (A) were decommissioned in place pursuant to section 250.1750 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); and (B) were removed pursuant to-- (i) section 250.1752 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); and (ii) section 250.1754 of title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation); and (6) the status of enforcement actions, including notices of incident of noncompliance, orders, citations, civil penalties, and disqualifications from future offshore operations, by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement with respect to decommissioning offshore oil and gas wells, platforms, and pipelines. <all>

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