ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico State Land Office showed off some of the most problematic gas and oil sites in our state on Wednesday.

These wells were abandoned and not properly cleaned, as required by state law.

“When a company is done using a parcel of state land, for oil and gas or other activities, they are supposed to literally plug the hole in the ground, and remove any equipment that is on the site. Basically, try to return the site to its original state before there was any production on it,” said Joey Keefe, the assistant commissioner of communications for the State Land Office.

Now, they are going after the companies to clean up what they left behind. In 2020, Public Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard launched a program called Accountability and Enforcement, to clean up abandoned well sites and prevent future messes.

“This program is basically looking at companies that are not doing that and approaching them and telling them that they need to comply, and most do actually when we approached them. But for those that don’t, we take other steps such as taking them to court to make sure that they clean up as they’re supposed to,” said Keefe.

The State Land Office believes there were about 1,100 abandoned wells when they started the program. 450 of which are now plugged, saving taxpayers at least $45 million.

“State trust lands exist for New Mexicans. These were lands that were set aside to make money for our public schools and our other institutions. And so these are lands that actually belong to New Mexicans,” said Keefe.