U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, on Friday congratulated Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials in Alaska for completing the cleanup of six legacy wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).

“I am glad BLM has finally started utilizing the money I secured two years ago in the Helium Stewardship Act. The cleanup of the Umiat wells is a good start, but much remains to be done,” Murkowski said. “I hope that this is an indication that BLM can pick up the pace to clean up the roughly one hundred remaining well sites."

The Navy and the U.S. Geological Survey drilled more than 130 exploration wells between 1944 and 1982 in what is now the NPR-A. Only a handful of the legacy wells have been properly capped and covered since the 1980s. The BLM is the agency within the Interior Department responsible for the cleanup of the wells. 

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