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More the $26 million going to abandoned oil and gas well cleanup in Arizona

A wildflower blows in the wind near an old pump jack on Molly Rooke's ranch, Tuesday, May 18, 2021, near Refugio, Texas. Oil and gas drilling began on the ranch in the 1920s and there were dozens of orphaned wells that needed to be plugged for safety and environmental protection.
AP Photo/Eric Gay, File
A wildflower blows in the wind near an old pump jack on Molly Rooke's ranch, Tuesday, May 18, 2021, near Refugio, Texas. Oil and gas drilling began on the ranch in the 1920s and there were dozens of orphaned wells that needed to be plugged for safety and environmental protection.

The Biden administration has announced more than $26 million for environmental cleanup projects in Arizona.

The funds from last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help remediate hazardous abandoned oil and gas well sites that are sources of pollution in the state.

According to Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly who, along with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, advocated for the funds, the abandoned wells are a major public health risk in the state.

According to the senators, the bipartisan law invests $16 billion in what’s known as "legacy pollution" and creates a new federal program to assess abandoned oil and gas wells, including in many rural and tribal communities.

The infrastructure law gained support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the Outdoor Industry Association and several other groups and officials throughout the country.