As a child in Bolivia, Mateo De La Rocha told his family he wanted to work as a garbage man when he grew up. In La Paz, his home city at the time, trash piles were everywhere. In Mr. De La Rocha’s eyes, the local sanitation worker was the only person cleaning up pollution. As many as 3.9 million abandoned and aging oil and gas wells dot the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. estimates that abandoned wells collectively released 303,000 metric tons of methane in 2022, roughly equivalent to how much carbon dioxide 23 gas-burning power plants might release in one year.

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Persons: Mateo De La Rocha, De, ”, De La Rocha Organizations: Paz, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: Bolivia, United States, Cary, N.C, Ohio