When old oil wells become 'orphans,' that's a problem
Jul 11, 2025•8 min
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Episode description
All across the U.S., there are aging oil and natural gas wells no longer in use.
A lot of them don't have anyone on the hook to seal them up. Some estimate over a million such "orphan wells" still exist.
Because they haven't been plugged, they're still leaking greenhouse gases and other chemicals into the atmosphere and into the land around them.
What would it take to plug them — or even just one of them?
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A lot of them don't have anyone on the hook to seal them up. Some estimate over a million such "orphan wells" still exist.
Because they haven't been plugged, they're still leaking greenhouse gases and other chemicals into the atmosphere and into the land around them.
What would it take to plug them — or even just one of them?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
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