Defunct Pennsylvania oil and gas wells may leak methane and metals into water
In the dense forests of northwestern Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of retired oil and gas wells—some dating back to the mid-1800s, long before modern construction standards—dot the landscape, according to geochemists in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences who recently led a study in the region. Left uncapped and exposed to air and erosion, they break down, leaching harmful chemicals into the atmospher … ⌘ Read more