Methane Leaks From Small Oil Wells Spur Call for Stiffer U.S. Regulation
- Study shows low-production wells are outsize source of methane
- EPA proposed largely exempting sites from regular monitoring
A decades-old, plugged and abandoned oil well in Crane County, Texas.
Photographer: Matthew Busch/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Environmentalists are calling on the Biden administration to crack down on methane leaks from low-producing U.S. oil wells, after new research shows they are releasing a disproportionate share of the potent greenhouse gas.
According to the study in Nature Communications, such marginal wells are gushing some 4 million metric tons of methane annually -- at a rate 6 to 12 times higher than the national average.