Skip to content
  • Science
  • Politics
  • Justice & Health
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Clean Energy
  • ICN Local
  • Projects
  • Impact
  • About Us
Inside Climate News
Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet.
Donate
Trump 2.0: The Reckoning
Inside Climate News
Donate

Search

  • Science
  • Politics
  • Justice & Health
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Clean Energy
  • ICN Local
  • Projects
  • Impact
  • About Us
  • Newsletters
  • ICN Sunday Morning
  • Contact Us

Topics

  • A.I. & Data Centers
  • Activism
  • Arctic
  • Biodiversity & Conservation
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Law & Liability
  • Climate Treaties
  • Denial & Misinformation
  • Environment & Health
  • Extreme Weather
  • Food & Agriculture
  • Fracking
  • Nuclear
  • Pipelines
  • Plastics
  • Public Lands
  • Regulation
  • Super-Pollutants
  • Water/Drought
  • Wildfires

Information

  • About
  • Job Openings
  • Reporting Network
  • Whistleblowers
  • Memberships
  • Ways to Give
  • Fellows & Fellowships

Publications

  • E-Books
  • Documents

plugged oil wells

Plugging Away at the Millions of Derelict Oil and Gas Wells in the US

The Well Done Foundation is remediating abandoned and orphaned fossil fuel wells that pollute water, soils and the atmosphere. But plugging a borehole can be even harder than drilling it.

Story and photos by J. Matt

A crew works to plug an orphaned well in the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge of Oklahoma.
Jackie Chesnutt props up a sign next to a leaking oil well operated by CORE Petro on her property near Knickerbocker, Texas, on Nov. 18, 2025.

Low-Producing Oil Wells in Texas Cause Headaches for Landowners

Story by Martha Pskowski, photos by Paul Ratje

Loretta Johnson stands by a water well on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. According to an EPA report, the well produces water tainted with arsenic. Credit: Jerry Redfern/Capital & Main

On the Navajo Nation, the List of Mystery Wells Continues to Grow

By Jerry Redfern, Capital & Main

Employees of Bulldog Field Services work on plugging an orphan well for the Railroad Commission of Texas in Luling on March 27. Credit: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Texas Legislature Increases Well Plugging Budget as Backlog Grows

By Martha Pskowski

An Oil Well Sinkhole Grows in the Permian Basin

By Martha Pskowski

Newsletters

We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web's top headlines deliver the full story, for free.

Keep Environmental Journalism Alive

ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going.

Donate Now
Inside Climate News
  • Science
  • Politics
  • Justice & Health
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Clean Energy
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Whistleblowers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Charity Navigator
Inside Climate News uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. Learn More