Trump’s order to scrap the penny doesn’t make ‘cents’: Expert
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As part of his plan to cut alleged federal government waste, President Donald Trump is literally pinching pennies, ordering his Treasury Secretary to stop the U.S. Mint from producing new 1-cent coins.
In an announcement Sunday on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the cost of minting the coin featuring the profile of the country’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, is more than twice the currency’s face value.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies, which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is wasteful!” Trump wrote. “I have instructed my Secretary of Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
According to the U.S. Mint, the cost of producing a single penny has more than doubled in recent years, from 1.76 cents in 2020 to 3.69 cents in 2024.
Printing a paper $1 bill is cheaper than producing a penny, which, according to the U.S. Mint, is comprised of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper and requires a smelting process to mold the metals. According to the Federal Reserve, it costs Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing 3.2 cents to print a $1 note – less than the cost of minting a penny.
The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million on making pennies in fiscal year 2024, according to the Mint’s annual report to Congress.
Is it legal?
It remains unclear if Trump has the power to retire the coin, which has been part of the fabric of America for 233 years, 116 years with Lincoln’s portrait embossed on it.
The move would likely require the approval of Congress. Even though it’s part of the U.S. Treasury, “Congress authorizes every coin and most medals that the U.S. Mint manufactures and oversees the Mint’s operations under its Public Enterprise Fund,” according to the U.S. Mint’s website.
However, Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, told the Associated Press that the U.S. Code, a list of general and permanent federal statues, gives Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, the authority to scrap the penny.
While the courts and others debate whether many of Trump’s executive orders pass legal muster, “this action seems to me entirely lawful and fully constitutional,” Tribe said.
If Trump gets his way, the penny will become the 12th U.S. currency denomination to be retired, joining the half-cent coin, the 2-cent coin, the 20-cent piece and the “trime” – a silver three-cent piece issued from 1851 to 1873, Caroline Turco, assistant curator of the Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told ABC News.
“We retired them for multiple different reasons, but normally because they were not being used or they just became too expensive to produce,” said Turco.
Is it a good idea
Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents – a Washington, D.C., organization that provides research to Congress and the executive branch on the benefits of the penny – believes that eliminating the coin “is an absolutely horrible idea.”
“It would be bad for consumers and it would be bad for the economy,” Weller told ABC News. “It really would, in fact, not save money, but it would increase government losses and have some unintended economic consequences.”
Weller said doing away with the penny would prompt the U.S. Mint to increase production of the nickel. According to the U.S. Mint, the cost of minting a single nickel is nearly 14 cents, almost three times the coin’s face value and more than three-and-a-half times the cost of minting a penny.
“Without the penny, nickel production could nearly double, which would increase the Mint’s losses,” Weller said. “So, it’s just hard to understand how you could produce more nickels that are losing more money than the penny and say you’re going to save money.”
Weller further said that ditching the penny could lead to the cost of goods going up for American consumers.
“If there’s one thing most economists agree on is that private business has a profit motive. So, the assumption would be that they would price things in a way that they would round up, not round down,” Weller said.
Although digital payments are increasingly more common, Weller said cash remains a crucial tool, “especially for someone economically underserved and under-banked.”
“The majority of Americans want to keep the penny,” Weller said. “A very large number abhor the idea of rounding transactions.”
The U.S. Mint produced 3.2 billion pennies in fiscal year 2024, according to the Mint’s annual report to Congress, with an estimated 250 billion pennies currently in circulation.
History of the penny Turco, whose museum is the education branch of the American Numismatic Association, told ABC News that one big misconception about the penny is that, technically, it has never existed in the United States.
“The American system does not have a ‘penny.’ That is a misnomer,” Turco said. “We have a cent because when we rebelled against the British they had pennies and that is a British word.”
Turco said the 1-cent piece was first produced in the United States in 1793 and was originally the size of the present-day quarter.
Turco said Lincoln, whose likeness is also on the $5 bill, was added to the coin in 1909.
If Trump’s wishes are met, the United States wouldn’t be the first country to eliminate the coin, Turco said. Canada, for example, decided to phase out its penny in 2012. In the U.S., the Department of Defense stopped using pennies at its overseas bases in 1980 because it became too expensive to ship them.
Regardless of the penny’s fate, Turco said she believes it will always be a part of the United States, at least colloquially, adding that such phrases as “a lucky penny” and “a penny saved is a penny earned” will likely always be a part of the American lexicon. And, perhaps ironically, the penny’s value could increase if its discontinued.
“I think collectors will still enjoy having them,” Turco said. “But I don’t think that the value of a penny will just skyrocket overnight.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles County has been devastated by two deadly wildfires that have become some of the most destructive in California history.
The Palisades and Eaton fires both erupted on Jan. 7, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong Santa Ana winds.
Dozens of people are believed to have died in the fires, which have burned down whole swaths of communities, including in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and Pasadena. More than 12,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the two fires, with the Eaton Fire the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
With the fires continuing to rage, the full scope of the lives lost and destruction remains to be seen.
While working to contain the Palisades and Eaton fires, firefighters also have had to contend with several smaller fires that have ignited amid the hazardous fire conditions.
Here’s a look at how the deadly blazes unfolded.
Jan. 7
A dayslong red flag warning goes into effect for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with very strong winds in the forecast amid dry conditions.
“Strong, damaging and potentially life-threatening #SantaAnaWinds are still on track for #SoCal,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warns. “Be prepared for strong winds and high fire danger.”
10:20 a.m.: A live camera with AlertCalifornia, a UC San Diego program to monitor wildfires and disasters in real-time, picks up smoke rising. This is the first sighting of the Palisades Fire.
10:30 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Palisades Fire has started southeast of Palisades Drive in the Pacific Palisades.
11:44 a.m.: Evacuation warnings — voluntary notices to leave — begin to be issued in the Palisades Fire.
Noon: Mandatory evacuation orders start in the Palisades Fire. Long lines of vehicles can be seen amid evacuations, as well as abandoned cars.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency due to the Palisades Fire, which has grown to 1,200 acres at the time of his declaration.
6:18 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Eaton Fire has begun in Altadena, describing the incident as a “fast-moving fire burning brush fueled by high winds,” prompting evacuation orders.
6:26 p.m.: The Los Angeles Fire Department calls on all of its firefighters to report for duty.
10:29 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Hurst Fire has begun in Sylmar, prompting evacuations.
Jan. 8
Newsom says more than 1,400 firefighting personnel and hundreds of “prepositioned assets” have been deployed to battle the “unprecedented fires” ravaging parts of Los Angeles, with the Palisades Fire growing to nearly 3,000 acres and the Eaton Fire to 1,000 acres by the morning.
5 a.m.: A wind gust of 100 mph is recorded at Mountain Lukens in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of La Canada Flintridge — very close to the Eaton Fire.
6:15 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Woodley Fire has begun in the Sepulveda Basin.
At a morning press briefing, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone reports that two people have died in the Eaton Fire, as it continues to rage uncontrolled.
The city of Pasadena issues a do-not-drink-water notification alert due to damage to water reservoirs, tanks and pumping stations, and an air quality alert is issued for parts of Los Angeles County, amid the wildfire impacts.
President Joe Biden approves a major disaster declaration for California, allowing impacted communities to immediately access recovery funds and resources related to the major wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area.
2:07 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Lidia Fire has begun in Acton, prompting evacuations.
5:57 p.m.: A fire has begun in the famed Hollywood Hills, Cal Fire reports. The Sunset Fire prompts evacuations.
8:07 p.m.: The Woodley Fire in the Sepulveda Basin is now fully contained, Cal Fire reports.
By the evening, Newsom updates that more than 7,500 firefighting personnel are on the ground to respond to “California’s ongoing historic wildfires.”
Jan. 9
The Palisades Fire has now burned more than 17,000 acres, while the Eaton Fire has grown to more than 10,000 acres, as both are 0% contained.
Newsom announces he has approved a request from Los Angeles County to deploy the California National Guard to support law enforcement efforts in the region, including in efforts to target looting in evacuated communities.
Biden also announces the federal government will cover 100% of the disaster response to the Los Angeles wildfires for 180 days, up from the 75% to 90% that is typically covered.
3:34 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Kenneth Fire has started in West Hills, prompting evacuations.
3:55 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills is 100% contained.
Around 4 p.m.: An evacuation alert is mistakenly sent to millions of Los Angeles County residents, officials said. The county subsequently called the error a “serious breach of public trust” and said, for now, the state’s Office of Emergency Services would be handling alerts to the public.
Jan. 10
The Palisades Fire has grown to nearly 20,000 acres with 6% containment, and the Eaton Fire to nearly 14,000 acres with 0% containment.
Los Angeles officials announce that a 12-hour curfew, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., is in effect for all evacuated areas to protect homes and prevent looting.
11:24 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Archer Fire has begun in Granada Hills, prompting evacuations.
That afternoon, Newsom calls for an independent investigation into the “loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies” from the Santa Ynez Reservoir, following a Los Angeles Times report that the Pacific Palisades reservoir had been closed for repairs at the time the destructive fire started.
“We need answers to ensure this does not happen again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic fires,” he says on X.
Jan. 11
The Palisades Fire is now more than 21,000 acres with 11% containment, while the Eaton Fire is more than 14,000 acres with 15% containment.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is leading a task force investigating the cause and origin of the fires, officials announce. The task force is made up of local, state and federal partners designed to investigate the cause of these fires and to see if there’s any connection between them.
Newsom also announces he is doubling the California National Guard’s deployment to the Los Angeles fires to 1,680 service members, as they are “continuing to rush in resources to rapidly respond to the firestorm in Los Angeles fueled by hurricane-force winds,” he says in a statement.
7:40 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Lidia Fire in Acton is 100% contained.
8:41 a.m.: The Archer Fire in Granada Hills is fully contained, Cal Fire reports.
Jan. 12
The Palisades Fire is now more than 23,000 acres and 11% contained while the Eaton Fire is more than 14,000 acres and 27% contained.
There have been at least 24 fire-related deaths — eight in the Palisades Fire and 16 in the Eaton Fire, according to the latest tally from the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.
As the wildfires continue to burn, the National Weather Service issues another red flag warning for fire danger in Southern California through Jan. 15, with high winds again in the forecast. Power shutoffs in evacuated areas will remain through the red flag warning, fire officials said.
The California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund has collected more than $6 million in donations, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announces, with more than 13,000 people from across the country and the globe donating.
7:48 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Kenneth Fire in West Hills is 100% contained.
Jan. 13
The Palisades Fire is now 14% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 33% contained. More than 15,000 firefighting personnel have been deployed for the fires, ahead of the latest fire threat, Newsom says.
Four separate lawsuits are filed against Southern California Edison, a utility company in California, by homeowners and renters who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire. The lawsuits each allege the company failed to de-energize all of its electrical equipment despite red flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
A group of Pacific Palisades residents and businesses impacted by the Palisades Fire also files a lawsuit against Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power, alleging that the city and its agency were unprepared for the Palisades Fire.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Fire agencies are investigating whether Southern California Edison — a subsidiary of Edison International — infrastructure sites caused fires in areas devastated by the Eaton and Hurst wildfires.
Pedro Pizarro, the president and CEO of Edison International, tells “Good Morning America” that the company cannot yet rule out the possibility that its energy infrastructure played a role in the fires, as they have not yet been able to examine the equipment.
6:27 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Hurst Fire is 97% contained after burning nearly 800 acres in Sylmar.
9:25 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Auto Fire has started in Ventura, prompting evacuations.
Jan. 14
The Palisades Fire is now 17% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 35% contained.
More than 30 people remain unaccounted for in the fires, authorities say at a morning briefing. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department says it is following 24 missing persons cases, all adults, while the Los Angeles Police Department says it has 13 active missing persons cases, two of whom are believed to be dead.
In the afternoon, the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner reports an additional fire-related death in the Eaton Fire, bringing the total fatalities in the two wildfires to 25. The Eaton Fire is the fifth-deadliest in the state’s history, with 16 reported deaths.
Jan. 15
The Palisades Fire is now 19% contained and the Eaton Fire 45% contained, as firefighters continue to work to contain and suppress the fires with the red flag warning in effect through the afternoon.
ABC News’ James Hill, Laura Romero, Alexandra Myers, Kate Holland, Kerem Inal, Helena Skinner, Lena Camilletti, Kirsten Cintigo, Tonya Simpson, Tomas Navia and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — In its first note of the day, the jury in Daniel Penny’s manslaughter and negligent homicide trial reported that it is “unable to come to a unanimous vote” on whether Penny committed second-degree manslaughter in the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, on the New York City subway.
“We the jury request instructions from Judge Wiley. At this time, we are unable to come to a unanimous vote on court one,” the note said.
Judge Maxwell Wiley gave the jury an Allen charge, which refers to the jury instructions given to a hung jury that encourages them to continue deliberating despite the deadlock. He is giving the lawyers time to consider the next steps.
Penny’s lawyer, Thomas Kenniff, unsuccessfully moved for a mistrial, arguing that the Allen Charge would be “coercive.”
Wiley disagreed, saying that it was “too early” to declare a mistrial before encouraging the jury to continue their deliberations.
Since the jury got the case on Tuesday, they have deliberated for more than 20 hours.
Penny, a 25-year-old former Marine, put Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, in a six-minute-long chokehold after Neely boarded a subway car acting erratically, according to police. Witnesses described Neely yelling and moving erratically, with Penny’s attorneys calling Neely “insanely threatening” when Penny put Neely in a chokehold.
The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely.
Penny pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and negligent homicide charges.
The verdict form asks the jury to decide the first count – second-degree manslaughter – before potentially moving to the second count of criminally negligent homicide. Only if it finds Penny not guilty on the first count, can it consider the second count of criminally negligent homicide.
The second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to have proven Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.
“It would be a crazy result to have a hung jury just because they can’t move on to the second count?” prosecutor Dafna Yoran said.
Yoran also told Wiley that a new trial would “ultimately [be] the case if they hang the case.”
Wiley left unanswered the question about whether the jury could move onto the second count if they are unable to reach a verdict on the first count. He said he believed the jury moving to the second count is possible but needs to find the legal authority to do so.
“I think ultimately we are going to have to answer the question of whether they can move to count two,” he said.
Twenty minutes after the judge encouraged them to continue deliberating despite their deadlock, the jury sent back another note requesting more information about the term “reasonable person” in their instructions.
“Ultimately, what a reasonable person is up to you to decide,” Wiley told the jury in response to their note, referring them to a two-part test in jury instruction.
To convict Penny of manslaughter, the jury must be convinced Penny acted recklessly and grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would behave, knowing the risk his conduct posed.
“Would a reasonable person have had the same honestly held belief as the defendant given the circumstances and what the defendant knew at that time?” Wiley asked, referring to the second part of the test.
Before the jury entered, Wiley noted how the “reasonableness” standard was established in People v. Goetz – another high-profile New York trial after Bernhard Goetz shot four teenagers on a New York subway in 1984 after they allegedly tried to rob him. A New York jury convicted Goetz for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm but acquitted on the more severe charges, and the trial sparked a nationwide debate about race and crime that has echoed forty years later in Penny’s case.
This illustration shows the locations where ABC News tested abandoned oil and gas wells for leaks; ABC News
(WEST TEXAS, Texas) — Rancher Laura Briggs rises early to care for the livestock scattered across her homestead on the arid plains of West Texas. Briggs and her husband saved up for years to purchase the land and build their family’s dream home near the Pecos River.
“It was a lifestyle choice to raise our kids rurally in the hopes that they would appreciate nature and where their food comes from and hard work and the other side of life that’s not so easy,” Briggs, a mother of four, told ABC News. “It could have been so much better without the fight.”
The “fight” that Briggs says has come to dominate her life in recent years centers around the 30-plus abandoned oil and gas wells littered across her ranch and left to rot by their former operators. She knew the inactive wells were on the land when she bought it, but what she didn’t expect to find was that some were leaking and no one was taking responsibility for the cleanup.
“I thought the state regulated this stuff. I never thought that this would be allowed to go on,” Briggs said.
As a result, Briggs’ dream of a bucolic ranch life has instead been marred by animals found covered in oil, concerns for her groundwater and air quality, and even the looming threat of a random explosion.
“My biggest fear is that I have a catastrophe close to my house. We have some wells close to the house and we don’t know what’s going on underground,” she said.
More than 3.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells are littered across the United States and an estimated 14 million Americans live within a mile of one of the wells. Those that leak are known in West Texas as “zombie wells” and can contaminate groundwater and spew carcinogenic chemicals and potent greenhouse gases into the environment, according to the Department of the Interior. In some cases, the wells have been blamed for home explosions.
“These wells are a threat to people and livelihoods, and especially kids and older people and people with health problems,” said Adam Peltz, director and senior attorney of the energy program at the Environmental Defense Fund. “We need to go find them because they’re a problem, not just for the people who live nearby, but for everyone on the planet,” Peltz said.
Despite the potential risks, few abandoned wells are ever regularly checked for leaks. ABC News, after weeks of research and calls with multiple leading experts in the field, identified the datasets, technology and learned the recommended safety practices before fanning out across the nation with gas detectors to locate and test more than 70 abandoned wells for leaks.
ABC News partnered with six owned and affiliated stations as part of the reporting project: KABC, KAKE, KFSN, KMGH, KTRK, and WRTV.
The device used in the investigation can detect hundreds of combustible gases and whether a well is leaking while the test is being conducted, several leading experts confirmed. The device is unable to determine the exact gas type and full scope of any leak over time.
Studies have shown that leaking abandoned wells typically emit methane — a highly combustible and potent greenhouse gas. But they can also leak carcinogenic benzene, as well as hydrogen sulfide or H2S, an extremely deadly gas that can kill humans even during short exposures.
In all, 40 out of the 76 wells tested by ABC News across five states were leaking oil or combustible gas when they were tested. Leaking wells were discovered on Kansas farms, beside New York streams, near Colorado schools and along hiking trails just outside of Los Angeles. The team also looked for leaks in the Gulf of Mexico, where more than 14,000 offshore abandoned wells are located. During a boat ride into Trinity Bay, just outside of Houston, the team carefully tested 10 decaying offshore wells and found seven to be leaking combustible gas at the time.
Billions in Costs to Taxpayers
While abandoned wells have been documented in more than 26 states, no place has more decaying underground pipes than Texas. More than 600,000 of the pipes exist in the state and they are particularly common in the Permian Basin, a prolific oil producing region where Laura Briggs lives.
ABC News tested five of the abandoned wells closest to Briggs’ home and found two to be leaking oil and combustible gas at the time.
The wells’ latest operators declared bankruptcy years ago, making them what’s often called an “orphan well.” With no viable owner, it’s now left up to the state — and ultimately taxpayers — to pay to plug the abandoned wells, permanently sealing off the holes to stop potential contamination from leaks. Despite years of complaints, Briggs says only three of the 30-plus orphan wells on her land have been plugged by the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry.
“They’ve been plugged because they leaked so bad, the Railroad Commission literally had to come out and do something,” Briggs said, arguing that the commission often waits until a well suffers a major blowout before committing to plugging the well. Briggs says one of the wells on her property has been leaking oil above ground for nearly 10 years, but the state has so far refused to plug it according to its priority level.
Texas has more than 8,500 documented “orphan” wells and more are added to the list every year. Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright told KTRK in Houston that “we do not have the money” to plug all of Texas orphan wells but that the agency had “developed a very good system” to prioritize plugging operations for those that leak — adding the commission had plugged 730 wells in 2023.
Properly plugging a single abandoned orphan well can cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of taxpayer dollars in part because the bonds oil and gas companies are required to post before drilling a well are rarely enough to cover the actual cost of plugging it, leaving taxpayers to pick up the rest of the tab. There have been numerous attempts on both the state and federal level to pass laws raising the bonds required by companies to cover plugging costs, but few have passed as they repeatedly face strong opposition from industry trade groups.
“Industry associations will go to legislators and regulators and say you can’t raise these bond amounts. It’ll put us out of business. Don’t make any changes,” Peltz told ABC News.
“And the problem with that is, well, are we supposed to live with orphan wells? Then why is the public subsidizing this activity? The current arrangement isn’t working so we need to come up with something new,” Peltz said.
The American Petroleum Institute declined to be interviewed for this report and did not respond to written questions. The institute wrote in a statement to ABC News that “the proper sealing of oil and natural gas wells is paramount to ensure safety, sustainability, and environmental protection, and API and our member companies are committed to responsible development of our nation’s energy resources from start to finish.”
In 2021, Congress set aside an unprecedented $4.7 billion for plugging abandoned wells nationwide and the money has begun to flow to qualifying state agencies. However, an ABC News data analysis of multiple sources estimates that the cost of plugging most of the nation’s abandoned and unplugged wells could be more than $250 billion and current government funding will only cover plugging costs for about 6% of the nation’s wells.
‘This ground is dead forever’
Just a few miles from Briggs’ ranch lies one of the most notorious abandoned wells in the nation and a striking example of what can happen if a well is neglected for decades.
Formed by a leaking well that was drilled in the 1950s, the 60-acre Lake Boehmer can seem like a surreal mirage from a distance: its turquoise waters and salt crusted shores standing in stark contrast to the harsh desert plains it has been flooding with toxic water for decades. The well leaks up to 600 gallons a minute of water that contains arsenic, benzene, hydrogen sulfide and at times has even proven radioactive, according to studies by the local water district.
Even before coming within sight of the “lake,” a visitor is greeted by the potent stench of rotten eggs — a tell-tale sign of deadly hydrogen sulfide gas that ABC News detected during its visit.
According to state records, the leaking well that created Lake Boehmer was drilled looking for oil in 1951, but the operators later converted it into a water well before abandoning it. As a result, the Texas Railroad Commission has refused to plug it, claiming the responsibility — and hefty price tag — lies with the county water district. The water district argues only the Railroad Commission has the responsibility and the funds required. As the dispute plays out in court the well continues to leak and some worry it could eventually contaminate local aquifers – the underground rock or sediment that stores water.
“There’s bones all around here, because the birds come and there’s H2S in this water and eventually the gas kills ’em. And so this is where they come to die,” local rancher Schuyler Wight told ABC News.
Wight’s ranch borders Lake Boehmer and is home to more than 200 orphan wells — many of which are leaking. One abandoned well on his land that he showed ABC News had formed a toxic pool of produced water that stretched down nearby dirt roads. While there, ABC News also detected the presence of deadly H2S gas.
“This ground is dead forever,” Wight said while looking out over the site. “This ground will never grow anything on it.”
Shortly after ABC News visited the site, state authorities stopped the leak aboveground but Wight worries they haven’t done enough to protect his groundwater or to prevent another blowout from happening again.
The Wells Buried Beneath America’s Cities
Most abandoned wells are in rural areas like Wight’s, but a surprising number can be found buried beneath America’s cities. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in Los Angeles. Built atop one of the nation’s oldest and most productive oil fields, thousands of abandoned wells lie buried beneath the city’s development, their presence often only revealed by historic photographs and by those who know where to look.
In the working-class neighborhood of Vista Hermosa, fence posts lining an athletic field are actually methane vents designed to mitigate the risks of more than a dozen abandoned wells buried beneath the field. Three of the wells beneath the field remain unplugged and the vents are designed to discharge potentially harmful gases they can emit away from nearby school buildings into open areas.
“They’re actually a part of the fence. So they’re camouflaged a little bit,” lifelong resident Danny Luna told ABC News on a tour of the area. For years, Luna and Rosalinda Morales, another lifelong resident, have been advocating for authorities to plug the more than 800 documented abandoned wells located beneath their community — which they believe pose a serious public health threat.
“We have a lot of medical conditions here. We have people with autoimmune conditions, cancers,” Morales told ABC News. It is difficult to prove exactly what is causing residents’ health issues in the area, but studies show those living near oil and gas wells are more prone to such illnesses.
Brenda Valdivia says she has been dealing with illnesses she believes are tied to the area’s wells since she was 10 years old. As a child, Valdivia spent time at the home of a baby-sitter that was directly beside an active oil well. By age 10, she was “getting really sick. I had high fevers, rash on my face.” Eventually, she says doctors diagnosed her with lupus and told her it was likely caused by environmental factors after testing failed to show she was genetically predisposed to the disease. She suffered two strokes in one night and has spent most of her life in and out of hospitals.
“I’m still recovering. And I take it day by day,” she said.
Rosalinda Morales, an asthma survivor, grew up beside an active well that was later abandoned and says she spent her “whole life smelling rotten eggs.” For years, Morales’ next-door neighbor complained to authorities of a similar odor emanating from under his front steps. After nothing was done, he ultimately took a jackhammer to the steps and made a startling discovery — an oil well that was emitting potentially deadly H2S gas.
“Pretty scary, because that’s what we’re breathing here,” Morales said. That well, along with another across the street, was eventually plugged by state authorities after it was discovered, but hundreds in the area remain unplugged and mostly buried out of sight.
On the outskirts of the city, however, some of Los Angeles’ abandoned wells can still be seen up close. ABC News located and tested three abandoned wells found alongside a popular hiking trail in El Escorpion Park and found two to be leaking oil and/or combustible gas at the time. One of the wells maxed out ABC News’ gas detector with a reading of 10,000 parts per million.
The device ABC News used does not distinguish which combustible gas it detects and more prolonged testing is required to determine the exact size of the leak. But the New Jersey Department of Health says that exposure to anything over 2,000 parts per million of methane is “immediately dangerous to life and health.” CalGem, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry in California, wrote to ABC News that the department “does not permit leaks at any level” from abandoned wells.
Inspection records show state authorities know that these wells have been leaking for years and, while they are on the state’s latest list for plugging, they are behind dozens of other wells deemed a higher priority for plugging by the agency.
CalGem, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry, wrote to ABC News that they are currently working through a list of 378 wells for plugging and that the wells we tested in El Escorpion Park are a “top priority” and “will be plugged and sealed soon to protect the environment and ensure public safety.”
Still, for residents living near the abandoned wells, plugging them cannot come soon enough.
“The solution is to make enough noise that maybe we’ll get some of this stuff fixed,” Wight told ABC News.
ABC News’ Timmy Truong, Kate Holland and Alex Myers contributed to this report.
