9. By 5 August 2026, Member States or the party responsible pursuant to paragraph 8, shall prepare a mitigation plan to remediate, reclaim and permanently plug inactive wells and temporarily plugged wells including at least the elements set out in Part 2 of Annex V, and implement it within 12 months from the submission of the first report referred to in paragraph 3.
By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, where a Member State or the party responsible pursuant to paragraph 8 can demonstrate that the implementation of that mitigation plan is not possible within that deadline due to safety, administrative or technical considerations, they may delay its implementation. The mitigation plan shall include all the necessary evidence justifying such a decision. In such cases, the implementation shall be carried out as soon as possible ensuring that the end date for the mitigation actions for each well does not exceed 3 years from the submission of the first report referred to in paragraph 3.
The competent authorities may require the party responsible to amend the mitigation plan taking into account the requirements of this Regulation.
Member States or the party responsible pursuant to paragraph 8 shall regularly update the mitigation plan, in line with the inventory referred to in paragraph 1 and the reports referred to in paragraph 3 and any changes or new information derived therefrom, and based on a robust assessment taking into account the most up-to-date scientific findings and best available techniques.
Mitigation plans shall use the inventory referred to in paragraph 1 and the reports referred to in paragraph 3 to determine priority for activities, including:
|
(a)
|
remediating, reclaiming and permanently plugging wells;
|
|
(b)
|
reclaiming related access roads or the surrounding soil under water, as applicable;
|
|
(c)
|
restoring land, water, seabed and habitat impacted by wells and the prior operations;
|
|
(d)
|
monitoring to ensure plugged wells are not a source of methane emissions in accordance with this Article.
|