4 ms·

I don't get this one. There is enough money at stake here for the lawmakers to go after the companies and they have a huge economic/political incentive not to d

by anm89 6y ago

I don't get this one. There is enough money at stake here for the lawmakers to go after the companies and they have a huge economic/political incentive not to dump tax increases on their constituents. So basically, how is this not a huge federal suit? If there is one thing I do expect its for this stuff to work itself out when the politicians have a clear interest in doing so? On the other hand maybe I'm missing something ?

andrei_says_ 6y ago
There are almost no politicians in office who have not been vetted, negotiated with, and financed by the very companies that are getting away with this.
lostcolony 6y ago
Lobbyists + political donations means the politicians have lots of incentive NOT to do anything about it. The environment may matter to Democrats, but as a party they could also drop it without losing many if any votes; after all, it's not like Democratic voters who care about that issue can go to the GOP, and they likely also won't stay home since there are other issues they care about. Let's be clear here; when only one of the two parties in power even accepts that something is even a problem, the other can do whatever is most expedient about it without consequence.
socialdemocrat 6y ago
Their "constituents"? Who do you think they are? Are we not talking about America? The constituents are the companies, not the voters. Seriously it is frustrating watching the US from outside. Watching how American just let themselves getting screwed over again and again and again. Only to ask for more. The paranoia about government and the praise of capitalism is so strong in America that people will rather embrace crony capitalism with a warm hug than do anything that means you risk getting called anti-business, job-destroyer, socialist, communist or whatever. There is not democracy in America anymore. It is the same "system" as Iran. Sure you get to vote, to retain the illusion of choice. The mullah's deciding on who gets to run has been replaced by the 1 percent, the donor class. You are allowed to vote on whomever they approve of.
- Gibbon1 6y ago
  > The constituents are the companies, not the voters. That is neoliberalism in a nutshell. A 50 year long project to make capital the only source of political power. And here we are.
- anm89 6y ago
  Edgy!
greycol 6y ago
The wells will have been traded between multiple companies (and not necessarily with the intent to abandon them so they don't need to pay costs.). A lot of the 'current owners' will be defunct or bankrupt. Because wells can become productive again (due to new technologies or techniques becoming cheaper or price for oil increasing) it would be hard to show any company was playing shell games even if they were, so it will be hard to show who should be stuck with the cost if the current owner can't pay(and of course shareholders are shielded). It would be a costly forensic exercise and while no doubt it would pay off on average there would be a lot of cases where nothing could be done meaning the tax payer has still lost out. Otherwise the only real way to claw back cash would be to retroactively add liability to the company that contracted drilling the well (this of course has the usual draw backs of retroactive laws). Realistically the only thing that could be done to cover this cost efficiently is some form of tax on the industry as a whole going forward. There also absolutely needs to be a law sooner rather than later that no new wells can be drilled without an appropriate bond (Now days this is the case in a lot of places or is a standard part of permitting).

by anm89 6y ago

andrei_says_ 6y ago

There are almost no politicians in office who have not been vetted, negotiated with, and financed by the very companies that are getting away with this.

lostcolony 6y ago

Lobbyists + political donations means the politicians have lots of incentive NOT to do anything about it. The environment may matter to Democrats, but as a party they could also drop it without losing many if any votes; after all, it's not like Democratic voters who care about that issue can go to the GOP, and they likely also won't stay home since there are other issues they care about. Let's be clear here; when only one of the two parties in power even accepts that something is even a problem, the other can do whatever is most expedient about it without consequence.

socialdemocrat 6y ago

Their "constituents"? Who do you think they are? Are we not talking about America? The constituents are the companies, not the voters. Seriously it is frustrating watching the US from outside. Watching how American just let themselves getting screwed over again and again and again. Only to ask for more. The paranoia about government and the praise of capitalism is so strong in America that people will rather embrace crony capitalism with a warm hug than do anything that means you risk getting called anti-business, job-destroyer, socialist, communist or whatever. There is not democracy in America anymore. It is the same "system" as Iran. Sure you get to vote, to retain the illusion of choice. The mullah's deciding on who gets to run has been replaced by the 1 percent, the donor class. You are allowed to vote on whomever they approve of.

Gibbon1 6y ago
> The constituents are the companies, not the voters. That is neoliberalism in a nutshell. A 50 year long project to make capital the only source of political power. And here we are.
anm89 6y ago
Edgy!

greycol 6y ago

The wells will have been traded between multiple companies (and not necessarily with the intent to abandon them so they don't need to pay costs.). A lot of the 'current owners' will be defunct or bankrupt. Because wells can become productive again (due to new technologies or techniques becoming cheaper or price for oil increasing) it would be hard to show any company was playing shell games even if they were, so it will be hard to show who should be stuck with the cost if the current owner can't pay(and of course shareholders are shielded). It would be a costly forensic exercise and while no doubt it would pay off on average there would be a lot of cases where nothing could be done meaning the tax payer has still lost out. Otherwise the only real way to claw back cash would be to retroactively add liability to the company that contracted drilling the well (this of course has the usual draw backs of retroactive laws). Realistically the only thing that could be done to cover this cost efficiently is some form of tax on the industry as a whole going forward. There also absolutely needs to be a law sooner rather than later that no new wells can be drilled without an appropriate bond (Now days this is the case in a lot of places or is a standard part of permitting).