NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico will receive $5.5 million in federal funds to plug 10 orphaned oil and gas wells. The money will also go toward remediating two well sites and restoring the surface at dozens of plugged wells. Story continues below Community: Bill aims to encourage schools to ban phones from the classroom in NM Don't Miss: APD helicopter video shows officers chasing suspect who tried to hide in a bush Weird: Video shows Santa Fe man accused of spending the night inside a Walmart This is part of the Department of the Interior's plan under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to clean up pollution in New Mexico and California. Federal officials said orphaned oil and gas wells pose serious health and safety threats to air and water quality by contaminating surface and groundwater, releasing toxic air pollutants, polluting drinking water sources, and leaking methane.