27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells remain in the Gulf, no one's checking to see if they're leaking

[G_j]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/07/ap-gulf-awash-in-27000-abandoned-gas-oil-well/1

AP: Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned gas, oil wells
09:22 AM

By AP
More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells remain in the Gulf of Mexico and no one's checking to see if they are leaking, reports an investigation by the Associated Press.

The AP, calling the Gulf an "environmental minefield," says the oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising questions about whether their seals remain intact. It says 3,500 wells are listed as "temporarily abandoned," without seals, with 1,000 of them remaining that way for more than a decade.

The Macondo well beneath BP's Deepwater Horizon rig was being sealed with cement for temporary abandonment when it blew April 20, according to the AP, which says government data indicate BP alone has abandoned about 600 wells in the Gulf. The story adds:

There's ample reason for worry about all permanently and temporarily abandoned wells – history shows that at least on land, they often leak. Wells are sealed underwater much as they are on land. And wells on land and in water face similar risk of failure. Plus, records reviewed by the AP show that some offshore wells have failed.

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[G_j]

1. hey Ed is talking about this right now

great minds and all..

[G_j]

2. Environmental groups stunned to find U.S. ignoring 27,000 abandoned Gulf oil wells

Environmental groups stunned to find U.S. ignoring 27,000 abandoned Gulf oil wells

Published: Wednesday, July 07, 2010, 11:34 PM
Associated Press Associated Press

JEFF DONN and MITCH WEISS, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON -- Leading environmental groups and a U.S. senator on Wednesday called on the government to pay closer attention to more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico and take action to keep them from leaking even more crude into water already tainted by the massive BP spill.

The calls for action follow an Associated Press investigation that found federal regulators do not typically inspect plugging of these offshore wells or monitor for leaks afterward. Yet tens of thousands of oil and gas wells are improperly plugged on land, and abandoned wells have sometimes leaked offshore too, state and federal regulators acknowledge.

Melanie Duchin, a spokeswoman with Greenpeace, said she was "shell-shocked" by the AP report and upset that government wasn't "doing a thing to make sure they weren't leaking."

Of 50,000 wells drilled over the past six decades in the Gulf, 23,500 have been permanently abandoned. Another 3,500 are classified by federal regulators as "temporarily abandoned," but some have been left that way since the 1950s, without the full safeguards of permanent abandonment.

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[spanone]

3. as human beings, man fails

[G_j]

5. dumping a car's oil change is against the law

yet...

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. +1. nt

[lonestarnot]

4. BP owns the

sea floor apparently belongs to them.