California has thousands of old oil wells. How many are in your neighborhood?
More than 350,000 Californians live within 600 feet of an unplugged oil or gas well, an analysis by the Los Angeles Times and the Center for Public Integrity found. That’s the distance at which people are exposed to degraded air, according to the office overseeing oil and gas policy in Los Angeles. Such wells can release carcinogens into neighboring communities and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.