Here’s a link to the video of Curtis’ presentation on March 22
Curtis Schuck, Chairman of the Well Done Foundation, will share how his organization is reducing carbon and methane emissions by capping “orphan wells.” This is a fascinating topic! While most oil and gas wells are capped at the end of their productive lives, nearly 200 years of exploration in this country has left us with 1-3 million “orphans,” wells that have no solvent owner of record. The EPA estimates that the methane emitted from these uncapped wells is the equivalent of 7-20 million metric tons of CO2 per year–approximately the same emissions as 2-5 million cars. And that’s without mentioning the chemicals that can seep out and contaminate soil and groundwater, chemicals like hydrogen sulfide, benzene and arsenic. Nine million Americans live within a mile of an orphaned well! Los Angeles County alone has nearly 1,400 such wells.
The mission of the Well Done Foundation is to fight climate change by plugging these abandoned wells. They work with farmers and landowners, local and state governments, corporations and not-for-profit organizations to locate abandoned wells, measure and document the CO2 emissions, then plug the wells and restore the surrounding surface area to its original state.
Register using this zoom link and join us at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22nd.
To learn more about this topic, click here for an information sheet from the Environmental Defense Fund about orphaned wells in California and read this article from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Questions? Contact us at INYO350action.
