Fed govt failed to inspect higher risk oil wells
Source: AP-Excite
By HOPE YEN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has failed to inspect thousands of oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water contamination and other environmental damage, congressional investigators say.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press before its public release, highlights substantial gaps in oversight by the agency that manages oil and gas development on federal and Indian lands.
Investigators said weak control by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management resulted from policies based on outdated science and from incomplete monitoring data.
The findings from the Government Accountability Office come amid an energy boom in the country and the increasing use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. That process involves pumping huge volumes of water, sand and chemicals underground to split open rocks to allow oil and gas to flow. It has produced major economic benefits, but also raised fears that the chemicals could spread to water supplies.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140511/us-oil-and-gas-federal-oversight-20301013aa.html
FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2011 file photo, downtown Vernal, Utah is shown. State health officials are pledging to look into claims that stillbirths are on the rise in the Eastern Utah community of Vernal, that is home to a boom in gas and oil development. Activists say a climbing rate of neonatal deaths in the Uinta Basin stems from industrial smog. But researchers and health officials aren{2019}t ready to draw such a link. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Steve Griffin, File)
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The 'Fed govt failed to inspect higher risk oil wells' because the voters did not want it. Half the country votes for the GOP Koch agenda, in their states and federally. Even if they don't know that they are doing it.
There is no magic source of money when taxes are kept low, no alternative ready to fund anyone 'to inspect higher risk oil wells,' especially when the federal government shuts down again to move the Koch brothers agenda forward and to line their pockets, which includes a national RTW law and the end of SS and Medicare, etc.
This will happen in 2017 if not sooner, unless we overcome the half of the country who not only likes this state of affairs, but is proud of having brought it about. There are enough people in this country who will not be affected by such things who will keep voting GOP and they really, really don't care about the environment.
An example of Americans not wanting the Feds to regulate to save the environment is here. All niceties aside, that is the message in western states that like Libertarianism:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101479277
Which led to one poster calling this horrifying:
U.S. to keep heat on BP to stop oil leak - Salazar
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/02/usa-rig-salazar-idUSN0215833120100502
WASHINGTON Sun May 2, 2010
(Writing by Paul Simao, Americas Desk)
WASHINGTON May 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. government will keep a "boot on the neck" of BP Plc, as it responds to a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatens to become an economic and ecological catastrophe, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Sunday.
"Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum to carry out the responsibilities they have both under the law and contractually to move forward and stop this spill," Salazar told CNN's "State of the Union" program.
He said there was "no doubt" that a mechanism that prevents oil from blowing out of the BP well was defective, adding that 100,000 barrels or more of oil could leak per day in a worst case scenario.
More at the link. And it is how the corporations get away with things, since 'boot on the neck' of the polluters is offensive. This is the media narrative the GOP pushed, when they apologized to BP for the Obama administration being cruel to them about polluting the Gulf for profit.
So we see this carried out state by state as well, as it was in Arkansas when a pipeline broke spreading bitumen (tar sands oil) on land and in waterways. They elected and still support ALEC candidates and their agenda. Part of that is eliminating the Post Office, public schools, the EPA and selling off the Commons. It really is up to the voters.
Regulatory agencies are still struggling to work under the Sequester, and voters who say they don't want pollution, will keep voting to realize the Koch agenda of no taxes and no regulations. Because they too, want to go with the crowd created by media to despise the 'Fed govt.' It's a vicious cycle with no end in sight.
BTW, this story takes place in Utah, which doesn't want the federal government to tell them how to manage land, and rejects the science of that management. Trashing the environment is not offensive, and I'm sure there will be excuses made to say this did not cause the stillborn births. And remember this is part of Utah, too:
Bundy son leads 300 activists in armed protest for right to ATV in Utah’s sacred ‘Recapture Canyon’
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024936463
Because... money. guns, fossil fuels and religion...
