October 20th, 2025 by WCBC Radio

In partnership with Diversified Energy, the state of West Virginia announced an agreement to establish the nation’s first financial assurance fund dedicated to retiring oil and gas wells—The Mountain State Plugging Fund.  Diversified will retire 1,500 wells in the first 20-year period and invest $70 million into the fund which is expected to grow to $650 million of financial protection to the state.  Governor Patrick Morrisey said the agreement secures the state

“Because it deals with the immediate issues at hand—to start to plug the wells—but it also sends a message that there will be economic strength and dominance for a long time.  That’s a twenty-year commitment.  That’s an awful lot of jobs, a lot of payroll, for a long period of time.”