There are more than 30,000 orphaned US oil and gas wells within a 30-mile radius of national park sites, potentially polluting nearby air and groundwater, according to a report.
The analysis by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and FracTracker Alliance notes that orphaned oil and gas wells are disused and abandoned facilities where the original owner is insolvent or there is no owner on record.
It claims abandoned wells that are not properly remediated by their owners can leak methane – a dangerous greenhouse gas – into the air and contaminate groundwater, causing respiratory problems such as asthma, frequent headaches, nausea, dizziness and fatigue.
Research by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that methane, the largest component of natural gas, is about 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth’s atmosphere, on a 100-year timescale.
Abandoned oil and gas wells near national parks need to be addressed by US Congress, says NPCA
The NPCA’s report found there are 214,538 untraceable orphaned wells that require rehabilitation across the US, with 31,737 within 30 miles of a national park site.
“It is shocking to learn how many orphaned oil and gas wells are leaking dangerous pollutants into the air and water, harming not only our national parks but also local communities,” said America Fitzpatrick, energy programme manager at the NPCA.
“This is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed by Congress to protect parks and public health, and prevent oil and gas companies from skipping town without cleaning up after themselves again in future.”
The analysis follows the introduction of two bills to address the problem – HR 2415, The Orphaned Well Cleanup and Jobs Act, led by Representative Leger-Fernandez, and S 2177, The Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act, led by Senator Bennet.
The NPCA believes a federal programme to remediate orphaned wells in the US would create as much as 120,000 jobs and strengthen bonding requirements to cover the reclamation costs of the wells.
It claims many of these jobs would help out-of-work oil and gas workers and ensure the nation’s transition to cleaner energy sources benefits all communities, including communities that were previously reliant on oil and gas.
