Salazar Announces $1.4 Million Award to Texas to Seal Abandoned Wells in State Offshore Waters

NEW ORLEANS – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced a grant award for $1,397,050 to the State of Texas General Land Office for a project to seal in abandoned oil and natural gas wells in state waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

The funding through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) will plug abandoned wells in bays and offshore waters to eliminate potential pollution threats to natural resources on the Texas Gulf Coast.

“I welcome this opportunity to join in partnership with the State of Texas to carry out this important conservation and coastal protection project,” said Secretary Salazar. “The Department of the Interior is proud to assist Texas in restoring and protecting natural resources through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program.”

The CIAP was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Through the program, MMS will provide $250 million in grants annually, from 2007-2010, to six eligible Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas producing states – Texas, Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The allotted funding to Texas under the CIAP includes $48.6 million for each of the fiscal years 2007 and 2008 and $35.6 million for 2009 and 2010. Eighteen Coastal Political Subdivisions (counties) share in the funding of projects outlined in the state's approved plan.