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A new analysis finds plugging and cleaning up abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells could generate 120,000 jobs while also protecting communities and clean water.
The report was compiled by the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy and Resources for the Future. The authors noted that more than 76,000 oil and gas industry jobs were lost between February and June this year, disproportionately impacting rural economies.
The EPA estimates there are more than 2 million unplugged abandoned oil and gas wells across the country, as well as hundreds of thousands of orphaned wells with unknown or bankrupt owners. Bonding requirements for oil and gas producers have never been sufficient to ensure companies clean up after themselves, leading to today's backlog of unplugged wells.
The authors say a widespread, coordinated effort to address the problem would reduce local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while creating jobs, costing around $2 billion to address the known inventory of 56,600 orphaned wells. Expanding the program to identify, prioritize and plug 500,000 wells would cost between $12 and $24 billion.
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That is part of the historic trauma that our American Indians have carried for hundreds and hundreds of years, where the federal government is setting things up, putting things in order for the good of the Indian people and not taking into consideration their viewpoints."
