New Mexico faces environmental and health threats from abandoned oil wells
Efforts are underway to plug “orphaned” oil wells in the US state, but advocates warn that far greater action is needed.
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NEW MEXICO: Thousands of abandoned oil wells in New Mexico are posing a significant and potentially deadly threat to residents who live there.
It is the second-largest oil-producing state in the United States, with more than 100,000 wells tapping into the oil- and gas-rich Permian basin.
Efforts are underway to plug the so-called orphaned wells, but advocates warn that far greater action is needed.
These wells are abandoned when oil production slows down, and no owner or fiscally viable operator plugs them.
At one such oil well in the city of Hobbs, drilling stopped more than five years ago. Hobbs is located in Lea County, which boasts of being the number one US county in relation to oil production.
Testing revealed that the oil well is a super emitter that is still releasing high levels of methane gas into the atmosphere.
While methane is relatively harmless, it is much more potent than carbon dioxide. It can displace oxygen in the atmosphere, causing suffocation, and is also highly flammable and explosive.
RISKS POSED BY UNPLUGGED WELLS
The risks presented by orphaned wells can be measured, both to the environment and the health of people living near these sites.
Environmental advocates said this brings risks of prolonged exposure, including to volatile organic compounds that can be carcinogenic.
Groups like the Well Done Foundation, a US-based non-profit environmental organisation, help to plug these abandoned oil and gas wells.
The foundation works with local landowners and state regulatory agencies to help identify and seal wells in New Mexico and over a dozen other states nationwide.
“These wells start out and they produce and then they start to produce less and less. Companies will sell and transfer them from one company to another,” explained the foundation’s chairman and CEO Curtis Shuck.
“It starts off as a major player. By the time it gets to the condition we see here, it’s like mom-and-pop oil,” he told CNA, gesturing to an abandoned well.
POSSIBLY OVER A MILLION ORPHANED WELLS IN US
Shuck uses social media to raise awareness and educate people about the severity of the issue.
With enough pressure, advocates like him hope that real change is in the pipeline nationwide, given that the problem is not restricted to New Mexico. Orphaned wells are also an issue for countries around the world.
According to experts, there are more than 1,700 documented orphaned wells in New Mexico alone and over 125,000 across the US. Some say there could be more than a million if undocumented wells are included.
In 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law earmarked US$4.7 billion to shutter thousands of wells nationwide.
This has helped to plug about 6,000 wells, with thousands more to come – but that could still prove to be just a drop in the bucket.
Adam Peltz, director and senior attorney at non-profit advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, said: “There are around 200,000 to 300,000 idle wells in the US currently and hundreds of thousands more very low-producing or marginal wells, all of which are at very high risk of becoming orphaned soon.
“Unless operators are setting aside (about) US$50,000 to US$100,000 per well to plug the wells, we’re kind of in trouble,” he added.
Plugging a well with cement can cost tens of thousands of dollars, which is far too expensive for many smaller operators.
The state has been plugging up to 50 wells a year, with more than US$40 million pumped into clean-up efforts through the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act.
However, New Mexico lawmakers recently failed to pass legislation to try and unlock more funds for cleanup operations and put more of an onus on oil and gas firms to cover the costs.
Dylan Fuge, deputy secretary of the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, said: “It all boils down to additional money and resources, but I think the states, the federal government and operators are going to have to come up with additional resources to address this issue.
“Otherwise, the legacy left behind are rusting derelicts in the desert.”
