Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Oil workers pull tubing from an orphan well in a field in Luling on March 27, 2025. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Pump jacks line a field where the Railroad Commsion of Texas plugs an orphan well in Luling on Thursday, March 27, 2025.

This story is produced by Floodlight, a nonprofit news site that investigates climate issues. Sign up for Floodlight’s newsletter here. Schuyler Wight is a fourth generation rancher who has raised ...

The Railroad Commission of Texas will begin the plugging of around 800 abandoned wells on September 1. The 800 wells are a fraction of the more than 6,000 documented orphan wells in Texas as of 2019.

The two related problems — uncapped orphan wells and plugged wells failing, known as “zombie wells” — threaten Texas groundwater. Oil, fluids and the industry’s salty wastewater can flow up the well ...

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Attorneys for the city of Midland, the oil capital of Texas, made an unusual request to regulators this year: Could they please be allowed to challenge drilling permits? Midland isn’t contesting ...