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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.
Summary
- Requires the Secretary of the Interior to submit an annual report to Congress on offshore oil and gas decommissioning
- Requires the report to be made publicly available on the Department of the Interior website
- Requires the first report within 2 years of enactment, then annually thereafter
- Requires reporting on the number of decommissioning applications received and the status of wells and platforms not decommissioned by required dates
- Requires reporting on the amount of pipelines that were decommissioned in place versus removed
- Requires reporting on enforcement actions taken by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement related to decommissioning compliance
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT] (D-VT)
3 cosponsors
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Peter Welch’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $8,600
- THE OLD MOUNTAIN COMPANY, INC. $3,300
- WEST FRONT STRATEGIES $2,500
- UCAR $2,300
- MINILEC SERVICE $2,000
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Peter Welch → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Jul 15, 2026 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held. · senate
- Mar 26, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. · senate
- Mar 26, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Committee action
What happened to this bill in committee — the meetings where it was considered and every recorded vote taken on it.
Meetings where this bill was on the agenda
Full text
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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