Biden cabinet official Haaland visits Kansas as White House promotes economic record
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Rep. Sharice Davids on Monday toured abandoned gas wells in Johnson County, where they announced an additional round of federal funding, included in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, to help plug thousands of environmentally troublesome wells across Kansas.
The visit by the cabinet secretary was an exclamation point amid a drumbeat of announcements in recent months by Democratic officials of spending in the Kansas City area fueled by federal funds approved by Congress – and a national push by the White House to highlight President Joe Biden’s economic record.
Davids, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, all Democrats, have repeatedly rolled out news of projects funded wholly or partly funded by federal dollars included in pandemic relief packages, the 2021 infrastructure law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. In the past month alone, they have touted incoming funding for high-speed internet and broke ground on a new mental health hospital in Olathe partially funded by pandemic aid.
Kansas has previously received $25 million that the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, has used to plug some 1,200 wells so far out of about 6,000 known abandoned wells across the state. The KCC has so far spent about $13 million, and Haaland said the state will be eligible for upwards of $25 million more.
The wells can emit methane, a greenhouse gas, long after they’ve stopped producing usable oil or gas and can also contaminate groundwater. Old, rusting equipment can also simply be an eyesore.
Haaland and Davids spoke to reporters at the site of a plugged well near the Virginia Sue Field of Dreams baseball diamond south of Olathe. Haaland hailed what she called Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda to “clean up toxic legacy pollution sites, create jobs and catalyze economic revitalization.”
Millions of Americans, she said, live within just a mile of an abandoned oil or gas well.
“Many of these wells have been left behind in backyards, believe it or not, recreation areas just like this baseball field. Nearby communities face something that no community should ever have to live with,” Haaland said. “As I’ve traveled the country the past two years, I’ve seen firsthand how these sites threaten the water, the air and soil that families, businesses and schools rely on.”
More than 600 wells have already been approved for plugging in northeast Kansas in the first round of grant funding, according to the KCC. The majority of wells approved for plugging so far are located in eastern Kansas, with several dozen also in the state’s far western counties.
“When you think about the progress we’re making, it certainly is giving me a sense of optimism – what we’ll be able to do going forward as we see the health risks being decreased, as we see the ability for our family and children to be able to play outside,” Davids said. “The bipartisan infrastructure bill is helping with that.”
Haaland’s visit comes as the White House mounts an aggressive push ahead of the 2024 election to promote what it says are the Biden administration’s economic achievements, which it has branded “Bidenomics.” The president in June said the term is “just another way of saying: Restore the American dream.”
The renewed effort to claim credit for a strong economy comes ahead of what is expected to be an intense reelection fight that will potentially again pit Biden against former President Donald Trump. Republicans have focused on the pain of higher prices or attacked Biden and Democrats for adding to the national debt, though the debt has grown under presidents of both parties.
“I don’t know what Bidenomics are. In my view, what we face today that Kansans are worried about is the cost of everything,” Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, told The Star late last month.
“So it is nice to be able to say we’re going to spend money on something that many people would find attractive, a good idea,” Moran said. “But then we spend more money than we take in, then there’s this consequence called inflation – the increasing cost of things that has lots of people squeezed, particularly people at the lowest income levels.”
Haaland declined to define the term when asked by a reporter on Monday.
“But I’ll tell you what: the president is committed to making sure that we’re healing our country and that’s what part of this is for,” Haaland said, referring to plugging abandoned wells.
While inflation remains elevated, it has dropped significantly over the past year after a series of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, which operates independently of the White House. Unemployment remains low at 3.6% and the economy hasn’t tipped into recession despite fears interest rate hikes could cause one.
Billions of dollars approved by Congress and signed into law by Biden as part of the infrastructure law or Inflation Reduction Act are also now being spent.
Haaland and Davids are close – in 2018 they were the first two Native American women elected to Congress. Haaland is also the first Native American cabinet secretary in American history.
Davids has spoken about how she and Haaland took refuge in Davids’ office during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Haaland also visited Kansas to campaign for Davids last fall.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated which office Davids and Haaland were in on Jan. 6, 2021.
This story was originally published July 10, 2023 at 2:36 PM.
