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Investigators said weak control by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management resulted from policies based on outdated science and from incomplete monitoring data.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.
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I wonder how much money we pay for "inspectors" that aren't doing their job? And people wonder why the high salaries of county, city, state and federal employees, comes under such high scrutiny. We're not getting our money's worth!!!
ReplyDelete2:37 Bingo that was my first thought. 17 trillion dollars and counting and where the heck does it all go?
ReplyDeleteTrust me on this: "fRACKING" is bad.
ReplyDeletemoney, money, money a lot of money for a few at the top and it will ruin good drinking water. Its not the inspectors its the lobbyist and the elected officials.
Common sense tells me that Fracking is a bad idea. They pressurize water, sand, and "chemicals" into the earth to 'break apart rock formations' which allows oil / gas to flow to the surface.
ReplyDeleteOf course the water table will be infiltrated by the water, sand, chemicals, oil, and gas.
Why would one assume it will not be affected?
congress is just looking for control...
ReplyDelete