When the Oil Runs Dry

油尽灯枯

Up First

2025-09-07

26 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Drilling for oil has been going on in the US for over 150 years. Across the country we have bored millions of holes in the ground to pump the liquid gold that has fueled the country's energy appetite. But those wells don’t last forever. When the oil begins to dry up, wells are supposed to be plugged to prevent toxic, climate-altering chemicals from escaping. So why then is there, by some estimates, more than 2 million unplugged abandoned wells around the country? Today on The Sunday Story, NPR correspondent Camila Domonoske joins to talk about the lingering effects of these old wells and why it's so hard to find a long-term fix. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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  • I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is a Sunday Story,

  • where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story.

  • For more than 150 years, the U.S. has been drilling for oil.

  • That meant punching millions of wells deep into the earth.

  • And those wells, they don't just go away when that big gush of oil is over.

  • Today, our big story is about the life, death, and after life of all wells.

  • We're talking to NPR's Camila Dominozki, who did a series of stories all about these wells.

  • Hey, Camila.

  • Hi, Asia.

  • So now, you know, I used to be an energy reporter, and so I really follow that news.

  • I'm always into, like, the energy story, especially with oil.

  • And of course, there's a lot going on in the energy world right now.

  • You could say that again.

  • Yeah.

  • So can I ask you, like, what made you want to cover these old wells,

  • which are, you know, I mean, you look at is like literally old news.

  • I honestly fell down a rabbit hole based on a single fact that blew my mind,

  • which is that the vast majority of U.S. oil wells make very little oil.

  • That's really not what you would think.

  • That's very counterintuitive.