Written by Yasmine Marrero, EarthDay.org
The fight against fossil fuels doesn’t end when the last oil or gas well runs dry. Across the U.S., over 3.5 million abandoned and nearly 120,000 orphaned oil and gas wells sit beneath our feet, quietly leaking greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals. In the transition to renewable energy, these wells are the forgotten foes we must defeat to achieve fully sustainable energy production.
What are Zombie Wells?
Zombie wells are abandoned oil and gas wells that refuse to die and instead live on by leaking hazardous materials into our soil, groundwater, and air. These leaking wells can contaminate groundwater, spew carcinogenic chemicals into the environment, and emit tons of greenhouse gasses.
Oil and gas wells are abandoned when production ends and orphaned when their owners or operators cannot maintain the wells or no longer exist, leaving no responsible party to manage and plug them. More abandoned and orphaned wells are expected to pop up as society transitions from fossil fuels to renewables, but plugging them is a long and arduous process with dangerous delays.
The Invisible Threats
Many abandoned wells leak methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of global warming potential. In 2018, abandoned wells in the U.S. are estimated to have released 281 kilotons of methane, equivalent to the climate impact of 16 million barrels of crude oil. However, because of incomplete data, these wells could emit three times more methane than estimated.
Zombie wells can also leak carcinogens, including benzene, which increase the risk of cancer, and hydrogen sulfide, a deadly compound found in natural gas, petroleum, and crude oil. Long-term exposure to hydrogen sulfide affects the eyes, nose, respiratory system, and neurological system. It’s called the ‘silent killer’ because when it reaches concentrations high enough to kill, people lose their ability to smell its signature rotten egg scent, and it can render someone unconscious almost immediately. It’s also highly flammable and can cause explosions by spontaneously igniting at high temperatures.
Developers often decide against building near abandoned wells not just because of contamination and flammability, but also because they are unattractive. In Pittsburgh, there’s about half as much development on land surrounding unplugged oil and gas wells compared to plugged ones, and properties near unplugged wells have on average 12% less market value.
This has other detrimental effects: less construction and lower property values lead to less tax revenue for communities, and residents are forced to either pay higher taxes or miss out on public services. One school district in Pittsburgh was estimated to have lost at least $1,000 per student over ten years, enough to buy updated textbooks and a laptop for every student, because of lost property tax revenues from unplugged wells.
Various methods can be used to plug or seal zombie wells. One common technique is to pump cement in the wells to create plugs. Then, pressure testing ensures the well is fully sealed to prevent further toxic leaks. This process is critical to mitigating the environmental and health effects of abandoned oil and gas wells. If left alone, zombie wells can contaminate large areas of land known as brownfields, which need expensive and painstaking revitalization to be safe again.
The Dead Zones
Lake Boehmer, nicknamed the ‘Dead Sea’ of West Texas, is deceptively beautiful, but beware — it’s dangerously toxic. It was created by an abandoned well drilled in the 1950s and to this day still leaks up to 600 gallons of toxic water per minute. It’scontaminated with arsenic, benzene, and hydrogen sulfide and is sometimes even radioactive. Because of this, Lake Boehmer and its surrounding area are considered ‘dead forever’ as they are inhospitable to wildlife and filled with the bones of animals killed by toxic pollutants.
The lake continues to spread and has started contaminating one of the area’s main water sources. The Railroad Commission of Texas, a state agency responsible for regulating oil and gas, has reportedly been awarded “a bunch”, but an unspecified amount, of federal money to plug zombie wells in the state. However, the Commission refuses to take charge of the one creating toxic Lake Boehmer due to confusion and disagreements over who is responsible for paying for the plugging of these abandoned and orphaned wells.
Zombie Wells and Public Health
Local wildlife has paid a heavy price for this lack of action. Thankfully, Lake Boehmer is miles from people and civilization, but others aren’t so lucky. Other dangerous wells are scattered around towns, on school grounds, and even under people’s front steps. Los Angeles, for example, was built on one of the oldest and most productive oil fields in the U.S. and today sits on more than 5,000 oil and gas wells.
People are more prone to autoimmune disorders and some cancers when they live near oil and gas wells, and in Vista Hermosa, a neighborhood in LA, residents complain of just that.
Take Brenda Valdivia, a long-time resident of Vista Hermosa who years ago was babysat in a home directly next to an oil well. She had high fevers and rashes on her face as a child and symptoms of an autoimmune disorder. She’s lived most of her life in and out of hospitals and was eventually diagnosed with lupus, which she attributes to the leaking wells in her neighborhood.
The wells plaguing Vista Hermosa residents have been leaking for years and are on the city’s list to be plugged but are behind dozens of others deemed higher priority. In 2022, the LA City Council voted to phase out all oil drilling and ban new wells, but these measures don’t address the wells already in the city.
What’s The Way Forward?
As more oil and gas companies shut down wells or go bankrupt, the list of unplugged wells only grows.
Lack of funding is the primary reason for such a long backlog of wells to plug. The expected cost to fill a modern shale well is almost $300,000. However, state agencies are perpetually underfunded and are responsible for plugging thousands of abandoned and orphaned wells. States typically require drillers to pay a bond before they drill to cover cleanup costs if they go out of business. However, these rules aren’t consistent nationwide, creating a patchwork of different funds that rarely fully cover the plugging costs anyway.
Plugging is also delayed by jurisdiction disputes. Because of poor documentation, changing ownership and uses, and bankruptcies, it can be difficult to determine responsibility for paying to plug the wells, usually resulting in the well not being plugged at all.
There’s hope, though. In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law as the biggest investment in tackling pollution in American history and includes a $4.7 billion investment to plug orphaned wells. So far, the federal government has awarded $560 million to address the issue, and there are over 10,000 high-priority well sites ready for immediate plugging.
The IIJA is a start, but much more must be done. Millions of abandoned wells endanger us, livestock, and wildlife, and this number is only expected to rise. As we transition to renewable energy sources, we must safely and permanently shut down oil and gas drilling sites so they don’t haunt us, and poison us, for years to come.
To kill zombie wells for good, first sign EARTHDAY.ORG’s Our Power, Our Planet Renewable Energy Petition to urge global leaders to phase out fossil fuels, cut greenhouse gas emissions, invest in clean energy infrastructure, and triple our renewable energy generation by 2030. Then, mobilize by pressuring your representatives to defend our planet, joining clean-ups, taking part in rallies, and more. Every action helps us work towards a safer future, so check out more ways to get involved this Earth Action Day.
The more we wait, the longer these wells threaten our communities. Will you take a stand against the rise of the undead?
