Jason W. Karl
Michael C. Duniway
Robert Heinse
April Hulet
J.D. Wulfhorst
Sean Di Stefano
2021
<p id="spara007"><span>• There are three general stages of a well's life on US public land: 1) the permitting process to drill, 2) active extraction of </span>fossil fuel<span> </span>resource, and 3) plugging and abandonment of well.</p><p id="spara008">• There is no national standard for oil and gas reclamation in the United States similar to mining and therefore current reclamation practices and standards fail to achieve long-term effectiveness across the western United States.</p><p id="spara009">• A reclaimed well pad's land potential is determined by 3 properties: static (e.g., climate), dynamic (e.g., soil stability), and process (e.g., water retention).</p><p id="spara010">• Understanding a reclaimed well pad's land potential enables federal land agencies to outline surface reclamation goals and requirements consistently and clearly.</p><p id="spara011">• Monitoring for land potential increases the capacity of the private industry to practice<span> </span>adaptive management<span> </span>by enabling companies to respond to plant community changes while maintaining long-term progress toward recovery.</p>
application/pdf
10.1016/j.rala.2021.10.004
en
Elsevier
Oil and gas reclamation on US public lands: How it works and improving the process with land potential concepts
article