When most people think of New York, the first thing that comes to mind is New York City, one of the most famous cities in the world. Spreading out from the city are large suburban communities. Though New York has vast uninhabited parks, it is the 3rd most populous state in the US with more than 19 million residents. Before Manhattan became a mega-metropolis surrounded by mega-suburbs, New York supported a rich oil and gas industry. By 1882, nearly 6.7 million barrels of crude oil had been dug up from thousands of wells scattered throughout New York State. New York’s mining industry has been long gone, and today it has become the world’s economic and trade center. But many of those old wells are still around, posing a danger to the environment and any people in the area.

There are no legal requirements for landowners to report abandoned gas and oil wells, so the whereabouts of many of New York’s defunct wells is unknown. These abandoned wells can lead to oil spills and gas leaks, contaminating the ground and air. The methane released from these sites contributes to excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and global climate change. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has set out to find all of these abandoned wells and see that they are properly sealed off to prevent any further pollution emanating from them. With the help of private landowners, NYSERDA and DEC has located close to 2,000 wells so far. However, they know that there are plenty more that are undocumented and hidden throughout much of western New York.

On December 14, 2020, NYSERDA and DEC announced that they were beginning a state of the art program utilizing drones to find any dangerous gas and oil wells in the state. NYSERDA has committed $400,000 towards custom built drones to be used for this mission. The funds will go towards robust commercial drones outfitted with special equipment to sense methane gas. As methane gas is colorless and odorless, humans can’t detect it on their own. That is why it is important to have a safety device in your home or business to detect methane gas leaks. These same devices, infrared sensors, are used by hazmat teams and can now be put onto drones.

The drones will be flown over areas in a grid like pattern to scan for any methane leaks. While the sensors scan for methane, the drone’s camera will also take in visual data that can be used to create a topographical map. If and when the drone’s sensors detect a gas leak, the location will be pinged by the drone’s GPS and logged on the map created by the camera. With precise location data, a ground crew can then safely return to the site to plug up the abandoned well. True, a ground crew could walk in a grid with a handheld infrared sensor, but that would be a huge waste of time and could put people in danger. Many of the suspected wells are hidden in hard to reach places. The drone can cover huge swaths of land in short amounts of time. Once all of the wells are located with the drone, an efficient and safe plan to access them can be established.

These methane seeking drones will not only be used to locate orphaned gas and oil wells. They will also be used to monitor emissions from landfills and factories in New York. Governor Cuomo has enacted the most intensive climate and clean energy agenda in the nation called the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. As outlined by the DEC, this act will see that “New York is also on a path to achieving its mandated goal of a zero-carbon emissions electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy-wide carbon neutrality.” Locating and plugging New York’s abandoned wells is just one small step in Governor Cuomo’s initiative. “Through NYSERDA’s Innovation program, we are funding technologies and clean energy solutions like these state of the art drones, that add tools to our arsenal in our efforts to combat climate change,” said Doreen M. Harris, Acting President and CEO of NYSERDA. “We are proud to work with DEC to continue to seek out every means possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as we work toward Governor Cuomo’s ambitious goals outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.”