13 Investigates: Texas Railroad Commission spends $620K to plug abandoned Trinity Bay well

TRINITY BAY, Texas (KTRK) -- 13 Investigates spent two hot summer days on the waters of Trinity Bay as we toured old and abandoned oil wells.

Now, the state says it has plugged some of the 186 orphan wells along the Texas coast it identified as needing work.

In September, 13 Investigates exposed the environmental toll of these wells that were abandoned by energy companies that went under.

ABC13 partnered with ABC News, which tested 10 abandoned wells in Trinity Bay and found seven of them were leaking combustible gas during their visit.

SEE FULL INVESTIGATION: Abandoned oil and gas wells in US bring fears of leak dangers, ABC News investigation finds

The Texas Railroad Commission, which, despite its name, is the government agency that regulates oil and gas statewide, told 13 Investigates it has plugged three wells since our investigation aired.

The state agency said the cost to plug one of those wells was about $618,500.

Some people say it's money well spent to stop the wells from damaging the coast.

The Texas General Land Office works with the commission to plug wells. The GLO even contributed $10 million from its budget to help with the railroad commission's well-plugging initiative.

"The General Land Office is really the guardian of the Texas coast in so many ways, and nobody even realizes that we clean up oil spills, we do disaster recovery, we do habitat restoration, beach nourishment," GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham told 13 Investigates this summer. "So when we see something that we think is harming the coast, we want to jump in and fix it."

Additional wells are expected to be plugged next year.

For updates on this story, follow Kevin Ozebek on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can watch more on our joint reporting with ABC News tonight on streaming. "Zombie Wells: The Threat Beneath" airs at 7 p.m. on ABC News Live.

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