The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has announced plans to plug a backlog of orphan and idle wells.
State drilling regulators plan to spend up to $25 million to plug orphan and idle wells. Contractors have another two weeks to bid to plug about 200 oil and gas wells before the end of the fiscal year in June.
A department spokesman says the Division of Oil and Gas Resources has been focused on increasing the number of eligible contractors to bid to plug the wells.
Orphan and idle wells are oil and gas wells that have been plugged improperly and don't have an owner that can pay to have them plugged.
The division has been making revisions to the Orphan Well Program to allow landowners to contract with companies to plug low-risk wells and have begun to packing more wells into contracts.