Copyright Los Angeles Times
To the editor: The methane leak that forced Newport Beach residents to evacuate their homes last week underscores the threat of decaying oil and gas infrastructure (“Methane gas leak leads to evacuations on a Balboa Peninsula street,” Oct. 23). It’s a problem California needs to take seriously. Californians face a huge threat from wells like the one in Newport Beach, which was reportedly plugged nearly 100 years ago — before today’s standards for sealing wells were in effect. But even more urgently, California must deal with its nearly 90,000 unplugged oil and gas wells that all need to be cleaned up. More than a third of these already sit idle, many of which have not produced in a decade or more. These wells can leak methane and dangerous toxins like hydrogen sulfide and benzene that poison communities and the environment. California lawmakers and regulators need to act with urgency and make sure these idle wells are plugged to modern standards. Fortunately, there’s a relatively simple solution: Make operators plug their idle wells faster. These wells brought them immense profits when they were producing, and paying for cleanup should be their responsibility.
