Sarah Stogner plucked a piece of cement off a rusted steel pipe jutting from the ground on a West Texas ranch. The chunk, part of the plug for a long-dormant oil well, crumbled in her hand.
Stogner manages the Antina Ranch, which spans an old oil field southwest of Midland. Today, it’s dotted with abandoned wells, many of which were plugged long ago to prevent the wells from polluting the air and water. Stogner and ranch owner Ashley Watt have found more than 100 failed plugs and are battling Chevron in court over their cleanup.
“You can see the gas ...