Marginal Well Plugging - Staging 2

The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) is excited to announce two funding sources for operators to volunteer marginal wells for plugging reimbursement. Both funding sources aim to reduce methane emissions while alleviating plugging costs for operators.

Enterprise Marginal Well Plugging (EMWP) - State Funding

The Colorado Orphan Well Mitigation Enterprise (OWME) collects mitigation fees from all operators to fund plugging, reclaiming, and remediating of orphaned and marginal wells. New in 2025, operators will be able to volunteer marginal wells to be plugged by the EMWP program, eliminating the risk of them becoming orphaned.

Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) - Federal Program

In May 2024, the ECMC was awarded $12.6 million of federal funding to be used to provide grants to operators to plug marginal conventional wells in their inventory. This funding provides an opportunity for operators to reduce emissions, reduce financial liability, and to alleviate costs of plugging low producing wells. The objective of this project is to mitigate methane emissions from marginal conventional wells (MCWs) by assisting operators to voluntarily and permanently plug and abandon MCWs on non-Federal lands and measure methane emissions from MCWs both pre- and post-plugging operations. This project may also support elements of environmental restoration required for full compliance with applicable State or Federal well plugging and abandonment standards and regulations.

Application

Application Round One is now closed. We are planning to open Application Round Two in early 2026. Applications for eligible projects will be evaluated and scored in accordance with the prioritization criteria found in the Marginal Well Plugging Application Guidance Document.

Marginal Well Dashboard

This interactive dashboard displays data metrics from the Marginal Well Plugging Program, including project status, methane emissions mitigated, spending, and more.