What are the dangers of abandoned oil wells?
Abandoned oil wells are dangerous because very few of them are really properly capped or retired. Most of these oil wells are just covered with dirt, and very few of them ever get checked after that takes place. So pressure that builds up from gases in the earth and shifting earthquakes, things like that, can cause that oil and gas to come back to the surface, even on a oil well that’s been capped. And then of course, that causes spills and emissions from those abandoned oil wells that harm both air and land and water.
