With Bakken At Or Past Peak Output, North Dakota Gets To Deal With The Mess Industry Left Behind

[hatrack]

EDIT

Another major blindspot for the industry and regulators has been the radioactive waste produced during fracking. When the industry did finally acknowledge this issue in North Dakota, its first move was to try to relax regulations to make it easier to dump radioactive waste in landfills — a practice that is contaminating communities across the country. In 2016, a study from Duke University found “thousands of oil and gas industry wastewater spills in North Dakota have caused 'widespread' contamination from radioactive materials…”

The fracking boom in North Dakota has resulted in widespread environmental damage and is worsening the climate crisis, given its high flaring levels, methane emissions, and, of course, production of oil and gas. As major Bakken producers go bankrupt and continue to lose money while the oil field goes bust, who will pay to clean up the mess? Like most oil-producing states, North Dakota had the opportunity to require oil and gas producers to put up money in the form of bonding which would be designated to properly clean up and cap oil and gas wells once they were finished producing. Unfortunately, the state didn't put that precaution in place, and now bankrupt companies are starting to walk away from their wells.

EDIT

The drop in oil demand due to the pandemic has hit the industry as a whole, but the Bakken was already in decline, with the best producing wells a thing of the past well before the novel coronavirus reached U.S. shores. In September 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on the dismal outlook for Hess Corporation's oil wells, noting last year: “This year’s wells generated an average of about 82,000 barrels of oil in their first five months, 12 percent below wells that began producing in 2018 and 16 percent below 2017 wells.”

EDIT

But it’s different this time. Unlike conventional oil fields, shale field production declines much more quickly. While shale producers could retreat to the top-producing acreage during the 2014 bust, most of that acreage is now gone. The shale industry is faced with trying to come back from a historic downturn in which even the companies that don’t go bankrupt are saddled with crippling debts. That's because for most of the past decade, shale companies borrowed more money than they made producing fracked oil and gas, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.

EDIT

https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/08/08/bakken-fracking-oil-boom-bust-hess-cleanup

[we can do it]

1. The assholes got just what they voted for. Thoughts and prayers.

[Newest Reality]

2. Are there...

Are there any homes or properties that are owned by the wealthy in danger? If not, then that's perfectly fine.

The people there voted in the best and most dedicated stewards of their state, so they can go glow in the dark for all they care. It's all about what they are told to believe, not what actually happens, so they can believe that radioactivity is a hoax or something and enjoy the scenic view of an industries leftover artifacts. Make a museum for them.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Call it what it is,

a major Reality Check to the tune of Billions of Dollars. One only needs to look at the States of Wyoming and New Mexico and now it appears Colorado is in the mix of States where abandoned wells and evaporation Pits are a everyday thing. Canada is just now trying to deal with thousands of abandoned wells as their Oil industry dries up.

Last week the active Rig Count dropped to zero for five days at which time one Rig was placed on active duty. Think about it,thousands to zero all within a matter of weeks.