Across Long Beach and Signal Hill, there are more than 750 active wells, as well as 378 idle wells. More than 2,900 wells citywide have been plugged, according to CALGEM<\/a> data.<\/p>\n Hundreds of idle derricks form a streak that cuts diagonally across Long Beach, through Signal Hill and just short of the Traffic Circle. More wells dot the land southeast of Recreation Park through the Los Cerritos Wetlands.<\/p>\n Hundreds of those wells sit within eyesight of \u201csensitive sites\u201d that include schools, hospitals, child care facilities and medical offices, said Emily Diaz-Loar, a staff scientist at the Center.<\/p>\n The center was unable to specify the exact number of at-risk sites they found in Long Beach, but they provided an interactive map<\/a> that lets you search your address or neighborhood.<\/p>\n Diaz-Loar said this trend extends to L.A. County, where housing density has led to 86% of the idle wells being located within a kilometer of a sensitive site, putting an estimated<\/a> 230,000 schoolchildren at risk. Nearly a third of the county\u2019s idle wells have been unplugged for more than a century, the study found.<\/p>\n Whether they\u2019re active or idle, unplugged oil wells are known to emit likely carcinogens<\/a>, including benzene and formaldehyde. These wells also release a potent greenhouse gas, methane, that helps drive climate change and increase one\u2019s risk for asthma, cancer and heart disease. Both active and idle wells can also threaten water supplies.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople should feel safe in their community spaces, not worried about explosions caused by methane leaks or their air and water being contaminated by unplugged wells,\u201d Diaz-Loar said.<\/p>\n Researchers at the center are urging lawmakers and state agencies to speed up the pace of idle well plugging, especially near sensitive sites and residences, and to make polluters pay for the work. Methane monitoring of idle wells should also be ramped up, they said.<\/p>\n The average<\/a> per-well cost for capping wells and dismantling associated surface infrastructure in California is between $40,000 and $152,000, totaling about $21.5 billion statewide ($2.7 billion in L.A. County). Despite the potential hazards presented by idle wells, oil and gas companies have provided financial assurance for less than 1% of the money needed to clean up their old wells, the report found.<\/p>\n According to records from the California Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, only about 40 of the more than 1,200 operators statewide submitted management plans for their nearly 3,500 idle wells (or paid a fee) ahead of the state-required<\/a> July 2025 deadline.<\/p>\n This report comes as the Trump Administration sued<\/a> the state last month over a law that prevents new oil and gas drilling within a kilometer of homes, hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n The complaint, filed Jan. 14 by the Department of Justice, argues the bill \u2014 S.B. 1137<\/a> \u2014 violates longstanding federal law allowing the government to lease public lands for extracting oil, gas, coal and other minerals.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/screenshot-2026-02-13-at-35634-pm-199644-qb5nkbfl-059075-o0yglGim-1024x918.png\")
<\/a>A screenshot from a map of idle oil wells produced by the Center for Biological Diversity.<\/p>\n