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Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [1]

For more than a century, oil and gas companies have been drilling — and abandoning — wells across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands to potentially leak pollutants into the air, water and soil. Climate and environment reporter Martha Pskowski looks at how funding and regulatory issues are impacting efforts to identify and plug these wells, and offers resources for drilling into their story.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat: 
Agriculture [3]
Air [4]
Climate Change [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Natural Resources [13]
Policy [14]
Pollution [15]
Technology [16]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [18]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [20]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [22]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [23]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [24]
Visibility: 
Public [25]
  • Read more about Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [1]

Tribal Radio Funding, Future Remain Uncertain After Clawback Of CPB Money [26]

'For the past few weeks, Oitancan “Oi” Zephier has labored among piles of vinyl records nearly 2 feet high. KILI-FM, the Porcupine, South Dakota-based tribal public broadcasting station Zephier manages, has gone digital and no longer needs the records. The station is selling the records, because what it needs is cash."

Disasters [27]
Environmental Justice [28]
Environmental Politics [29]
Infrastructure [30]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
People & Population [31]
Public [25]
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: South Dakota Searchlight [32], 11/24/2025
  • Read more about Tribal Radio Funding, Future Remain Uncertain After Clawback Of CPB Money [26]

Judge Cuts Greenpeace Pipeline Protest Penalty In Half to $345 Million [33]

"A North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay damages of $345 million, reducing an earlier jury award after it found the environmental group and related entities liable for defamation and other claims in connection with protests of an oil pipeline nearly a decade ago."

Activism [34]
Climate Change [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Justice [28]
Environmental Politics [29]
Infrastructure [30]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Natural Resources [13]
People & Population [31]
Pollution [15]
Transportation [35]
Water & Oceans [17]
Public [25]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: AP [36], 10/31/2025
  • Read more about Judge Cuts Greenpeace Pipeline Protest Penalty In Half to $345 Million [33]

"The Ecological Benefits Of Far-Ranging Bison Herds" [37]

"Bison once moved across North America in herds that blackened the landscape in all directions, in numbers estimated not in the hundreds but in the tens of thousands."

Agriculture [3]
Biodiversity [38]
Environmental Politics [29]
Wildlife [18]
Public [25]
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [23]
Source: National Parks Traveler [39], 09/02/2025
  • Read more about "The Ecological Benefits Of Far-Ranging Bison Herds" [37]

"Pesticide Politics: Inside The Corporate Push To Limit Liability" [40]

"With billions of dollars at stake, Bayer has gone on the offensive. Billboards along major highways. A social media offensive. Tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations in Missouri alone. And a major push in at least 11 states to change pesticide labeling laws."

Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [41]
Environmental Health [8]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Pollution [15]
Public [25]
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: Investgate Midwest [42], 08/22/2025
  • Read more about "Pesticide Politics: Inside The Corporate Push To Limit Liability" [40]

"The Unseen Harvest: Pesticides, Cancer And Rural Missouri’s Health Crisis" [43]

"The counties with the highest use of pesticides per square mile are all located in Missouri’s Bootheel. Many of these counties have some of the state’s highest cancer rates and their health care options are dwindling."

Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [41]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Politics [29]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Public [25]
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: Investgate Midwest [44], 08/22/2025
  • Read more about "The Unseen Harvest: Pesticides, Cancer And Rural Missouri’s Health Crisis" [43]

"Another Gold Rush Could Bring Open Pit Mines To South Dakota’s Black Hills" [45]

"A gold rush brought settlers to South Dakota’s Black Hills roughly 150 years ago, chasing the dream of wealth and displacing Native Americans in the process. Now, a new crop of miners driven by gold prices at more than $3,000 an ounce are seeking to return to the treasured landscape, promising an economic boost while raising fears of how modern gold extraction could forever change the region."

Natural Resources [13]
People & Population [31]
Public [25]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: AP [46], 08/20/2025
  • Read more about "Another Gold Rush Could Bring Open Pit Mines To South Dakota’s Black Hills" [45]

"Texas Judge Removes ESA Protections From Lesser Prairie Chicken" [47]

"A Texas-based federal judge assented to a Trump administration request Tuesday and ended Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken."

Agriculture [3]
Biodiversity [38]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Natural Resources [13]
Wildlife [18]
Public [25]
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [23]
Source: E&E News [48], 08/19/2025
  • Read more about "Texas Judge Removes ESA Protections From Lesser Prairie Chicken" [47]

"Pesticide Manufacturer Spent More Than $200K Lobbying In Iowa" [49]

"Bayer, the biotech company and manufacturer of Round Up, has substantially increased its spending on lobbying in Iowa since the introduction of a pesticide labeling bill in 2024."

Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [41]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Politics [29]
Laws & Regulations [12]
People & Population [31]
Pollution [15]
Public [25]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: Iowa Capital Dispatch [50], 08/05/2025
  • Read more about "Pesticide Manufacturer Spent More Than $200K Lobbying In Iowa" [49]

"At an Iowa Pork Plant, Piles of Dead Pigs and Wafting Sulphur Dioxide" [51]

"After Steven Barrows left his job at a hog slaughtering facility in Sioux City, Iowa, he sent a tip to the Environmental Protection Agency. In the tip, received by the EPA April 16, Barrows described the parking lot of Seaboard Triumph Foods LLC as a 'dump site for rotten meats.' He also sent photos -- some displaying dead pigs piled up outside of the building and others showing a smoky, noxious gas wafting inside."

Agriculture [3]
Consumer [52]
Environmental Politics [29]
Food [53]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Pollution [15]
Waste [54]
Public [25]
National (U.S.) [19]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Source: Sentient [55], 08/01/2025
  • Read more about "At an Iowa Pork Plant, Piles of Dead Pigs and Wafting Sulphur Dioxide" [51]

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Source URL:https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains

Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/publications/features/orphans-and-zombies-reporting-abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-across-country [2] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/features [3] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/agriculture [4] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/air [5] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/climate-change [6] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/business [7] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/energy [8] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health [9] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/government [10] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/health [11] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/journalism/media [12] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/laws [13] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/land [14] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/policy [15] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/pollution [16] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/technology [17] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water [18] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/wildlife [19] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national [20] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-lakes [21] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains [22] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mid-atlantic [23] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mountain-west [24] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southwest [25] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81 [26] https://www.sej.org/headlines/tribal-radio-funding-future-remain-uncertain-after-clawback-cpb-money [27] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster [28] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice [29] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-politics [30] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/infrastructure [31] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/people-population [32] https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/tribal-radio-funding-flows-future-remains-uncertain-after-clawback-public-media-money [33] https://www.sej.org/headlines/judge-cuts-greenpeace-pipeline-protest-penalty-half-345-million [34] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/activism [35] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/transportation [36] https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-greenpeace-dakota-access-pipeline-lawsuit-4c5430585daccda6458181fd91662593 [37] https://www.sej.org/headlines/ecological-benefits-far-ranging-bison-herds [38] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/biodiversity-1 [39] https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/08/ecological-benefits-far-ranging-bison-herds [40] https://www.sej.org/headlines/pesticide-politics-inside-corporate-push-limit-liability [41] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics [42] https://investigatemidwest.org/2025/08/18/pesticide-politics-inside-the-corporate-push-to-limit-liability/ [43] https://www.sej.org/headlines/unseen-harvest-pesticides-cancer-and-rural-missouri-s-health-crisis [44] https://investigatemidwest.org/2025/08/18/the-unseen-harvest-pesticides-cancer-and-rural-missouris-health-crisis/ [45] https://www.sej.org/headlines/another-gold-rush-could-bring-open-pit-mines-south-dakota-s-black-hills [46] https://apnews.com/article/gold-rush-mining-south-dakota-black-hills-a7560f583c0c6677d1d8f42b5546a64b [47] https://www.sej.org/headlines/texas-judge-removes-esa-protections-lesser-prairie-chicken [48] https://www.eenews.net/articles/texas-judge-removes-esa-protections-from-lesser-prairie-chicken/ [49] https://www.sej.org/headlines/pesticide-manufacturer-spent-more-200k-lobbying-iowa [50] https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/07/31/bayer-spent-more-than-200k-lobbying-in-iowa-on-pesticide-labeling-bill/ [51] https://www.sej.org/headlines/iowa-pork-plant-piles-dead-pigs-and-wafting-sulphur-dioxide [52] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/consumer [53] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/food [54] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/waste [55] https://sentientmedia.org/iowa-pork-plant-deadly-gas/?ref=floodlightnews.org [56] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=1 [57] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=2 [58] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=3 [59] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=4 [60] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=5 [61] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=6 [62] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=7 [63] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=8 [64] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-plains?page=43