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Socialism is alive and well for corporations. Oil wells should be fully plugged and dealt with before they can be abandoned by the companies pumping them. Inste
by ok_dad 2y ago
Socialism is alive and well for corporations. Oil wells should be fully plugged and dealt with before they can be abandoned by the companies pumping them. Instead, private land owners and taxpayers foot the bill. Disgusting.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2y agoOstensibly they are, but the article posits that the definition of “fully plugged” here is not really actually “fully plugged”.
- ok_dad 2y agoI was thinking they could have solved this earlier, perhaps if they had found they couldn’t plug wells properly decades ago, they might not have allowed as much drilling, or would have researched and experimented sooner to figure it out. My point being, the fact that these companies abandoned it without thinking is a cause of the current issues.
- DowagerDave 2y agoThere's definitely an orphan well problem and cases of very irresponsible O&G companies, but you gloss over the challenges with hindsight and an incomplete understanding of the science & technologies involved. It's more like space exploration than it's like "digging a deep hole"
- ok_dad 2y agoI’m sure it’s a hard problem, too bad taxpayers are the hook now instead of the corporations that took that unknown risk.