BLM orders private company to plug dormant oil wells in Carrizo Plain National Monument

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ordered E&B Natural Resources to plug and abandon 11 dormant oil wells inside the Carrizo Plain National Monument on Wednesday.

E&B Natural Resources is required to plug and abandon all 11 wells pictured below by Aug. 2 of 2028

The order was part of a stipulated agreement signed by BLM and multiple conservation groups to resolve a 2020 lawsuit challenging the approval of a new oil well and pipeline within the National Monument.

The Carrizo Plain National Monument was established in 2001.

The 11 wells sites are in the Caliente Mountains within the western boundaries of the National Monument and home to several protected species including the threatened San Joaquin antelope squirrel, the endangered San Joaquin kit fox, and an endangered flowering plant called the Kern mallow.