|
A new analysis has found that America's national parks are plagued by tens of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. These wells pose possible health and environmental risks by spewing methane and leaking brine into nearby groundwater.
The analysis, conducted by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and the FracTracker Alliance, found that more than a third of all National Park Service sites are located within 30 miles of an orphaned oil or gas well, with nearly 32,000 abandoned wells surrounding 162 park units. The report comes as national parks see a surge of visitation post-pandemic. "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," NPCA Energy Program Manager America Fitzpatrick said.
Addressing abandoned wells and mines is a point of agreement, with environmentalists, industry, Republicans, and Democrats all in favor of directing attention to clean up the left-over infrastructure. President Biden's infrastructure plan allocates $16 billion to plug and clean up old wells and mines, and a new bill from Senator Bennet would increase cleanup while updating bonding requirements to avoid the issue again in the future. Research has found that as many as 120,000 jobs could be created if half a million wells were plugged.
Tackling abandoned wells would also help address the climate crisis: methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps dozens of times the amount of heat that carbon dioxide does, and old oil and gas wells have the potential to leak methane into the atmosphere.
NPCA's Fitzpatrick said, "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."
|
When it comes to the management of these lands, it’s important to remember they are our public lands. They must be managed in the interest of multiple user groups and industries, and in a way that conserves the land and animal populations for future use. While that tension can be frustrating at times, it really is an excellent system."
