How the US plans to plug 1 million toxic 'orphan' oil wells

• There could be as many as 1 million orphan, or abandoned, oil and gas wells in the US.
• With no owner, they're leaking out methane and deadly toxins unchecked. 
• Ownership and financial responsibility to plug these wells have fallen to states, but many can't foot the bill.
• Now, nonprofits like Well Done may be left to clean up the mess.

Nine million Americans live near an orphan oil and gas well.

These wells have no owner and were never sealed, so they're leaking out tons of methane and deadly gases unchecked. Some are 150 years old and were lost with time. Finding and plugging them with cement can be costly, and most states don't have the funds to do it.

Congress allotted $4.7 billion to address this problem in the recent infrastructure package, inspiring renewed hope. We follow one ex-oil executive and his team as he hunts down and plugs forgotten oil wells.