PBS News Hour | States work to limit methane leaks from abandoned wells | 2024 season

GEOFF BENNETT: Two major pieces of legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden provide new money and new requirements for reducing heavy methane emissions, including those from abandoned oil and gas wells.

Now the federal government has started awarding some contracts to cover these wells.

But the election could impact whether that work continues, as former President Donald Trump wants to reverse many rules and recently called climate concerns a fraud.

Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports from the embattled state of Pennsylvania on the larger scale of the problem.

MILES O'BRIEN: Deep in the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania… MELISSA OSTROFF, Earthworks: I see something there, yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: …Melissa Ostroff makes her way along narrow roads through dense undergrowth, hoping to see the methane for the trees.

MELISSA OSTROFF: Okay, we have to go this route.

WOMAN: Isn't it possible to get there?

MELISSA OSTROFF: Oh, that just looks a lot easier.

MILES O'BRIEN: Nothing easy about this job.

She is a member of an environmental organization called Earthworks.

Using a $100,000 thermal imaging camera that can record hydrocarbon clouds, she is searching for methane, or natural gas, which is often found along with oil and frequently leaks from oil wells, whether active or not.

MELISSA OSTROFF: You can hear and see the bubbles that are created from the methane underground, and with this optical gas imaging camera I can also see that methane getting into the air.

MILES O'BRIEN: Pennsylvania's forests are teeming with thousands of orphaned and abandoned oil wells, many of which are more than a century old.

The first oil rush in history began not far from here in 1859, when Edwin Drake drilled the first commercial well.

Pennsylvania estimates there are more than 350,000 orphaned and abandoned wells in the state.

MELISSA OSTROFF: There is no responsible party that we can hold accountable now to clean up the mess we have here, and so it's just seeping out one thing at a time.

MILES O'BRIEN: Methane stores about 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year lifespan.

It is responsible for about 30 percent of human-caused global warming, and about 8 percent of Pennsylvania's methane emissions come from orphaned and abandoned wells.

MELISSA OSTROFF: Through this camera it looks like smoke.

I can see it kind of waning here.

It's not completely sealed, and that's pretty typical.

MILES O'BRIEN: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection estimates the average cost of plugging a traditional well like this to be about $100,000, but that can vary depending on the depth, condition of the well and its accessibility.

The cost creates a perverse incentive to keep fountains active long past their prime.

MELISSA OSTROFF: They know the cost of clogging is really high, so they're going to try to keep it in that gray area where it only produces a trickle for as long as possible.

MILES O'BRIEN: The loopholes, the shades of gray and the lack of accurate records compound the vicious problem.

MARY KANG, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, McGill University: There are these documented wells that states know about, that they have records of, and then there are all these undocumented wells.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mary Kang is an associate professor of civil engineering at McGill University.

She and her team were the first to publish measurements of methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells.

They started with GPS coordinates obtained from government databases and local activists.

MARY KANG: There were so many times that we would get there and look for a well and then find five, six, a dozen, and then you start asking, well, how many are missing?

MILES O'BRIEN: Kang and other experts estimate that there may be a million orphan oil and gas wells in the U.S., but only 140,000 of them are currently documented.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill includes $4.7 billion to begin addressing the problem.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania used the money to significantly accelerate a well capping campaign and celebrated its 200th completed project in March.

Gov. Josh Shapiro: GOV.

JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): Today, Pennsylvania faces the consequences of a legacy left by an industry that wasted our natural resources and then got away with abandoning those gas wells without properly plugging them.

MILES O'BRIEN: The American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil and gas producers, says it has established strong industry standards to advance the permanent closure and rehabilitation of historic wells, and it supports a robust policy framework for guarantees and financial security to ensure that the operators can meet their decommissioning obligations.

MELISSA OSTROFF: I usually go straight to the Department of Environmental Protection and file a complaint.

MILES O'BRIEN: Methane is odorless, yet the forest is permeated by the foul smell of rotten eggs.

It is hydrogen sulfide, a toxic chemical often associated with methane.

Other hitchhikers contain volatile organic compounds, including benzene, a carcinogen.

MELISSA OSTROFF: Inhalation poses health risks, and you see tanks like this in people's backyards.

MILES O'BRIEN: Wow.

MELISSA OSTROFF: And it just escapes unhindered.

MILES O'BRIEN: Close by, in Bradford, Pennsylvania, wherever you walk or drive through, you will see reminders that this is a city and a region built by, from and among oil wells.

Many are still in operation.

In late 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules for detecting and controlling methane emissions from active oil and gas production facilities.

However, the requirements are relaxed for the small fountains that are common here.

MELISSA OSTROFF: Yes, they are everywhere here, right next to houses, right next to schools.

MILES O'BRIEN: The tank next to this shed is in a neighborhood.

The smell told us there was trouble.

We sure smell it here.

The camera confirmed that it was an open hatch to vent methane emissions.

MELISSA OSTROFF: Otherwise it would explode, and unfortunately it's just part of the scenery here.

MILES O'BRIEN: While our cameras were out and about, we sparked some curiosity and concern.

Maddi Chaussard is a mother of four children and moved here in 2020.

Melissa showed her the shots of the smoking hatch.

It's opened up a bit so it can just spread out.

MADDI CHAUSSARD, mother: Is there a way to fix this… MELISSA OSTROFF: So… MADDI CHAUSSARD: …so it doesn't leak so much?

MILES O'BRIEN: She said summer nights are often the worst.

MADDI CHAUSSARD: The smell was so bad that it woke me up from my sleep and gave me a stomach ache and a headache, just a general feeling of sickness.

I don't want to jeopardize anyone's livelihood, but I also don't want my health or that of my children to be put at risk.

When I watch the video of the chemicals pouring out, it's kind of a testament to what I've been feeling for the last three years.

MILES O'BRIEN: The evidence is everywhere if you can look.

It's hard to imagine getting net carbon emissions to zero without stopping the steady stream of leaking methane.

Millions of old holes need to be plugged while tens of thousands of new ones are drilled every year.

For the PBS News Hour, I'm Miles O'Brien in Bradford, Pennsylvania.