
As the birthplace of the oil and gas industry, Pennsylvania has by far the highest number of extremely old orphan and abandoned wells in the country to the tune of hundreds of thousands. Learn how Moms are helping get these polluting wells plugged.

By Rachel Meyer
Since 2004, the Venango PA Senior Environmental Corp has been finding and documenting abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells that could be leaking methane and air pollutants, contaminating the air and water, harming people and wildlife, and accelerating climate change.

Pennsylvania just celebrated the plugging of its 300th orphaned oil or gas well. Plugging these wells is an important way to make progress on both global warming and air pollution because they have the potential to leak the potent climate pollutant methane plus toxic chemicals, like benzene, that put people’s health at risk.
We are a community of more than 1.6 million moms, dads, and caregivers united against air pollution – including the urgent crisis of our changing climate – to protect our children’s health.
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