Your front yard might be sitting on some mineral resources—but that doesn’t mean it’s time to start humming the Beverly Hillbillies theme song just yet. As residents of two Echo Park homes have recently learned, long-abandoned oil and gas wells from the early 1900s may be more problematic than lucrative.
The two Echo Park wells were discovered to be seeping natural gas into the neighborhood. According to the Associated Press, the amount of gas being released right now is small, but a report from the California Department of Conservation described them as being a potential health and safety risk. The leaks were also something of a nuisance, with the LA Times reporting that neighborhood residents were complaining of a scent of rotten eggs coming from the subterranean seepage.
Authorities are taking precautions and will begin sealing them immediately. The California Department of Conservation is saying that the work will take six weeks to complete and will require some closures of the Firmin Street cul-de-sac where the homes are located as well as possible interruptions to power, phone and cable services in the immediate area. The government has taken on responsibility for the repair because efforts to find the original owners of the well failed.
Given the recent Porter Ranch debacle, it would make sense that nobody wants to take any chances with gas leaks. While the Department of Conservation report states that nothing on that scale could happen with one of these “orphan wells,” around 900 of these sites are known to exist across the region and are continuing to deteriorate as time goes on. Here's hoping officials start sealing those as well.