Interior devotes billions to plugging old oil wells. Is it enough?
The agency under-counted abandoned wells by more than half, which means the effort covers only a fraction of the cost.
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The agency under-counted abandoned wells by more than half, which means the effort covers only a fraction of the cost.
The Interior Department has signed an agreement with several other federal agencies to organize its nationwide effort to clean up orphaned oil and gas
Stacy Martin, Managing Editor
CRANE — Rusted pipes litter the sandy fields of Ashley Williams Watt’s cattle ranch in windswept West Texas. The corroded skeletons are all that remain of...
Forgotten Oil and Gas Wells Lingering, Leaking Toxic Chemicals By Cathy Bussewitz and Martha Irvine | August 3, 2021 Rusted pipes litter the sandy fields of Ashley Williams Watt’s cattle ranch in windswept West Texas. The corroded skeletons are all that remain of hundreds of abandoned oil wells that were drilled long before her family owned the land. The wells, unable to produce any useful amounts of oil or gas, were plugged with cement decades ago and forgotten. But something eerie is going on beneath the land, where Watt once played among the mesquite t...