This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In January, the Department of the Interior stated what many have suspected: There are far more orphaned oil and gas wells in the US than previously estimated. In a memo, the agency wrote that more than 130,000 documented wells exist across the country that lack a responsible company on the hook to pay for cleanup—the remnant of more than 150 years of extracting oil and natural gas.