In Slumping Energy States, Plugging Abandoned Wells Could Provide an Economic Boost
A story by the Pew Charitable Trusts on North Dakota's efforts to plug abandoned oil & gas wells quotes Senior Research Associate Daniel Raimi.
Spending federal money on well-capping programs tends to draw support from unlikely allies. State governments get additional cleanup resources. Oil companies see the programs as a way out of a regulatory problem — although their reckless management may be why the well was abandoned. And environmental leaders see the programs as an effective way of addressing lingering contamination, while providing jobs in sectors transitioning away from carbon-based fuels.
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“There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of abandoned oil and gas wells out there that could be plugged,” said Daniel Raimi, a researcher at Resources for the Future, an environmental think tank. “States and the federal government have not brought down that backlog. You could employ people for a pretty long time if you really wanted to.”
Read the full article here. The story was also published in the outlet Route Fifty and five state-level publications.
