Texas has thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. Who is responsible for cleaning them up?

Texas has thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. Who is responsible for cleaning them up?

Oil workers pull tubing from an orphan well in a field in Luling on March 27, 2025. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune By Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune LULING Just six minutes from 5,700-person town’s historic city center, where an old oil museum still nods to the boom days, the ground groans as oil workers pull steel tubing — each piece is longer than a bus — out of a well drilled in 1983 that stopped pumping profits last year. …

Texas has thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. Who is responsibl…

Across Texas, abandoned wells are erupting with chemical-infused liquid and some have created massive lakes of contaminated water. Regulators say they need more money to address the problem.

Texas Has Thousands of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells. Who is Responsible for Cleaning Them Up?

By Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune LULING — Just six minutes from this 5,700-person town’s historic city center, where an old oil museum still nods to the boom days, the ground groans as oil workers pull steel tubing — each piece is longer than a bus — out of a well drilled in 1983 that stopped pumping profits last year. Rain pours on this quiet Texas field, but the crew doesn’t stop their steady pace. Learn More Here.