What if we told you there were toxic chemicals leaking into the air, water and soil where kids in your neighborhood play? And what if we said that the people responsible were oil and gas executives looking to make a quick buck – and that they don’t intend to plug the leaks?  

You’d be appalled… but not too surprised, right? After all, oil and gas executives and their allies are the ones largely responsible for climate change. They knew fossil fuels were causing it in the 70’s and they continue to fabricate lies about it today, all in the name of profit.  

Unfortunately, right now, millions of inactive oil and gas wells—a few feet to miles-deep holes bored through the earth used to extract oil and gas from the ground — sit unplugged across the U.S., leaking toxins right next to schools, in backyards and across recreational areas.  

Many of these unplugged wells, known as orphaned or abandoned wells, are on public lands, left behind by fossil fuel companies that have decided it’s no longer a good economic choice to continue drilling (they’re right about that part).  

Estimates show there are 120,000 documented orphaned wells eligible for closure in the U.S. alone—and as many as several million additional undocumented orphaned wells. And for the most part, people are unaware of the dangers posed to them by these sites.