Orphaned oil wells costing taxpayers a bundle

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The bipartisan infrastructure package signed into law back in November included $4.7 billion of our tax dollars for plugging and cleaning up abandoned or orphaned oil and gas wells. These are wells that the oil companies themselves were required to plug and clean up as a condition of their drilling permit.

So far, 26 states have notified the Department of Interior (DOI) that they intend to apply for grants under DOI's program to distribute that money.

So, why are U.S. taxpayers footing the bill for all of this orphaned well clean up? It is because the companies responsible are being allowed to skip out on their obligations. In fact, the Department of Interior recently announced that it has documented at least 130,000 of these orphaned oil wells.

Unfortunately, that $4.7 billion is just a down payment. Not only is the full cost of remediating those 130,000 orphan wells likely double that amount, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the actual number of orphaned and abandoned wells could be as high as 3 million.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/orphaned-oil-wells-costing-taxpayers-a-bundle/ar-AATA8PY

[applegrove]

1. There are 95,000 in Alberta. In a few cases the corporation is no more. Most of

the wells the viable oil drillers just decided to abandon. Lowers the value of the property they are on. Lots of people should be happy with the infrastructure plan.

[DURHAM D]

2. I am not happy that my taxes are paying for something

the oil companies need to be paying for.

[applegrove]

3. Me neither. We will have to pay too in Canada.

[DURHAM D]

4. Also, some states started applying a monthly well head tax back in the 80s on

every well so they could build up a fund in case they had to do cleanup after an oil company went belly up. Where did that money go?

[applegrove]

5. I think one of the Dakotas or Montana made them pay as they go because

oil drilling/franking came late to that part of the country and they were wise to the oil companies' games.