More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells waiting to leak in Gulf of Mexico

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An Associated Press investigation shows that there are more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and the constellation of aging wells has been ignored for decades.

"No one—not industry, not government—is checking to see if they are leaking."

The oldest was abandoned in the late 1940s.


Image (CA State Lands Commission): "An older nearshore wellhead" off the California coast.