© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Abandoned oil wells are leaking greenhouse gases. Taxpayers are on the hook to clean them up

An oil well worker moves equipment at a site on the Rooke family ranch where an orphaned well was plugged. (Eric Gay/AP)
An oil well worker moves equipment at a site on the Rooke family ranch where an orphaned well was plugged. (Eric Gay/AP)

Planet-warming methane is seeping out of old oil and gas wells nationwide. State and federal authorities have set aside billions of dollars to plug those leaks, but that money will cover just 2% of the total cost.

That’s according to a new investigation by ProPublica, which Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd discusses with reporter Mark Olalde.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.