abandoned oil and gas wells

The Senate Energy Committee passed the proposed legislation in a Thursday meeting.

Over the next four years, the Well Done Foundation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife will plug more than 100 orphan wells on public land.

The state expected millions of dollars to plug wells abandoned by their owners. But the funds are in limbo under a new federal administration.

A contentious debate has erupted over who is responsible for plugging the wells.

Sometimes the signs that an old oil or gas well lies beneath the ground are subtle — a mysterious wet spot in a field, for example.

The initial grant will allow Texas to plug a fraction of the state’s approximately 7,400 documented abandoned oil and gas wells.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) -- The Kansas Corporation Commission is disputing a newspaper article about the number of abandoned oil and gas wells in the state. The Topeka Capital-Journal recently reported that the state has 22,000 abandoned wells. The article was also picked up by the Associated Press.