Unlocking Solutions: Innovative Approaches to Identifying and Mitigating the Environmental Impacts of Undocumented Orphan Wells in the United States
In the United States, hundreds of thousands of undocumented orphan wells have been abandoned, leaving the burden of managing environmental hazards to governmental agencies or the public. These wells, a result of over a century of fossil fuel extraction without adequate regulation, lack basic information like location and depth, emit greenhouse gases, and leak toxic substances into groundwater. For most of these wells, basic information such as well location and depth is unknown or unverified. Addressing this issue necessitates innovative and interdisciplinary approaches for locating, characterizing, and mitigating their environmental impacts. Our survey of the United States revealed the need for tools to identify well locations and assess conditions, prompting the development of technologies including machine learning to automatically extract information from old records (95%+ accuracy), remote sensing technologies like aero-magnetometers to find buried wells, and cost-effective methods for estimating methane emissions. Notably, fixed-wing drones equipped with magnetometers have emerged as cost-effective and efficient for discovering unknown wells, offering advantages over helicopters and quadcopters. Efforts also involved leveraging local knowledge through outreach to state and tribal governments as well as citizen science initiatives. These initiatives aim to significantly contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing greenhouse gases and improving air and water quality.
Authors
- Charuleka Varadharajan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4142-3224)
- Sebastien Christophe Biraud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7697-933X)
- Mohamed Z. Mehana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2472-2879)
- Mohit L. Dubey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8575-8827)
- Fabio Ciulla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2637-1737)
- James E. Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9137-1530)
- J. William Carey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8488-2925)
- A. A. Delorey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5573-8251)
- Yuxin Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6953-0179)
- Chester J. Weiss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1553-2283)
- Timothy J. Kneafsey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3926-8587)
- Zhiwei Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3138-8207)
- Christine Downs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3722-9381)
- Priya Hora (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1851-1901)
- Preston Jordan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5853-9517)
- Andrew Govert
- Natalie J. Pekney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3198-786X)
- Greg Lackey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2538-3485)
- Daniel O’Malley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0432-3088)
- André Luís Diniz dos Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7320-7649)
- Hari Viswanathan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1178-9647)
- Teeratorn Kadeethum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6815-9179)
- Javier E. Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2404-3975)
- Mary Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9142-384X)
- Manoj Nair (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0541-0127)
- Jade Boutot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3445-5009)
- Emily Follansbee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7452-8252)
- Ismot Jahan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2033-5153)
- Manvendra K. Dubey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3492-790X)
- Eric J. Guiltinan
Institutions
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US)
- Sandia National Laboratories (US)
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (US)
- McGill University (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Published
- 2024-09-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c02069
- Citations
- 14
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.96
Funders
- Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management