Editor, OBSERVER:

Environmental Defense Fund director and senior attorney Adam Peltz warned of the long-standing problems of abandoned gas wells in Western New York State and its Southern Tier. Peltz was interviewed by Capitol Pressroom reporter David Lombardo on Sept. 12.

Peltz asserted that improperly capped oil and gas wells emit methane and hydrogen sulfide, causing both greenhouse gas and local air toxicity concerns.

The first gas well in the USA was drilled in Fredonia 201 years ago.

Owners of a well in New York State are legally responsible for capping it when it is no longer in service. If owners cannot be identified, that responsibility fails to the state and federal government in the USA.

That’s New York’s legacy of abandoned oil and gas wells.

MICHAEL C. BARRIS, Ph.D.,

Fredonia