Gas Companies Are Abandoning Their Wells, Leaving Them to Leak Methane Forever

Share This Post

Just one orphaned site in California could have emitted more than 30 tons of methane. There are millions more like it.

The story of gas well No. 095-20708 begins on Nov. 10, 1984, when a drill bit broke the Earth’s surface 4 miles north of Rio Vista, Calif. Wells don’t have birthdays, so this was its “spud date.”

The drill chewed through the dirt at a rate of 80 ½ feet per hour, reaching 846 feet below ground that first day. By Thanksgiving it had gotten a mile down, finally stopping 49 days later, having laid 2.2 miles of steel pipe and cement on its way to the “pay zone,” an underground field containing millions of dollars’ worth of natural gas.

Read more…

Photo credit: Lisa Vielstädte

More To Explore

Joppa, TX – Profile of a Sacrifice Zone

By Hunter Marion. Nestled between the slow, muddy waters of the Trinity River and the noisy I-45, sits Joppa, TX. Pronounced “Joppee” by locals, Joppa

Heatwave Safety

By Leila Waid. September is kicking into high gear, which means the summer season has ended, and fall is just around the corner. While summer