Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share When old oil wells become 'orphans,' that's a problem
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
When old oil wells become 'orphans,' that's a problem
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?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
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 [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
View all episodes
By NPR
4.1
54585,458 ratings
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?
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
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 [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
More shows like Consider This from NPR
View all
NPR News Now
14,191 Listeners
Planet Money
30,718 Listeners
The NPR Politics Podcast
25,778 Listeners
The Daily
110,845 Listeners
Up First from NPR
55,986 Listeners
The Indicator from Planet Money
9,508 Listeners
Today, Explained
10,137 Listeners
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
2,392 Listeners
Post Reports
5,410 Listeners
Throughline
16,095 Listeners
Fiction - Comedy Fiction
6,448 Listeners
Short Wave
6,206 Listeners
State of the World from NPR
400 Listeners
Trump's Terms
373 Listeners
The Headlines
512 Listeners