Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned wells

[cory777]

Source: AP

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one -- not industry, not government -- is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing.

The AP investigation uncovered particular concern with 3,500 of the neglected wells -- those characterized in federal government records as "temporarily abandoned."

Regulations for temporarily abandoned wells require oil companies to present plans to reuse or permanently plug such wells within a year, but the AP found that the rule is routinely circumvented, and that more than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year, and many since the 1950s and 1960s -- even though sealing procedures for temporary abandonment are not as stringent as those for permanent closures.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/wires/allwires/2010/07/06/D9GPVO282_us_gulf_oil_spill_abandoned_wells/index.html

[tomm2thumbs]

1. GREED KILLS - and govt is the only thing that can temper greed - when it isn't corrupt, itself. /nt

[notesdev]

2. "the rule is routinely circumvented"

Golly gee, why does that sound so familiar?

[JournalistKev87]

3. Of course

there are lots of unabandoned wells that aren't properly sealed and might be leaking oil and gas.

WHO'S ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL?!?!?!

Holy mother crap hole...

[Liberty Belle]

4. Good for AP. Lately they're more of a watchdog than CNN.

The news is frightening. Let's hope it stirs some action on the part of the Obama administration and perhaps the UN, as this could impact the whole world.

:kick: so the morning crew can see this!

[Bluebear]

5. Yay! Let's EXPAND drilling!

:crazy: