Articles include: Fossil Fuel Companies Are Promoting ‘Lower Carbon,’ ‘Responsibly Sourced’ Oil and Gas; Louisiana Oil Fields and Orphaned Wells; UK’s Leading Climate Science Denial Group; Urge Banks Not to Fund Chemical Plant in Louisiana; Climate Disinformation Database: The Global Warming Policy Foundation.
Tag: orphan wells
The Daily Climate, April 19, 2021
Articles include: forests cut for fuel; immigration driven by climate change; infrastructure funding and orphan wells; Greta Thunberg and Congress; ALEC fighting climate change science; bottom trawling fishing; US and China; climate guide for kids; drought in the western US & Mexico; methane & old wells; Louisiana oil haven; allergies worsened by climate change.
DeSmogBlog, April 17, 2021
Articles include: Security Firm Accused of Working Illegally on O&G Pipelines; ‘Net-Zero’ PledgesDelay Climate Action new paper warns; Fossil Fuel Companies’ Tough Sell: Oil and Gas Sites With Costly Environmental Clean-up; Shell’s Science Museum Climate Exhibition; Irish Politicians And New Cheese Factory; Environmental Racism, Europe, and Coal Use; European Court & Climate-Related Human Rights Challenges; Methane Emissions Spiked in 2020; Climate Disinformation Database: Bjørn Lomborg.
3 Virginia Mercury articles: Regulating Orphan Wells, Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Ban, and Virginia Carbon-free Grid.
The Daily Climate, April 6, 2021
Articles include: Orphan oil wells & climate change; lightning, wildfires, and the Arctic; farmland restoration; wage gap; alternatives for coal country; carbon flooding; O&G jobs disappearing; Texas winter energy disaster; diseases in Alaska; drought in Michigan and Arizona; fossil fuel subsidies.
Biden infrastructure plan would spend $16 billion to clean up old mines, oil wells
PBS: Biden infrastructure plan would spend $16 billion to clean up old mines, oil wells.
President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan to transform America’s infrastructure includes $16 billion to plug old oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned mines, a longtime priority for Western and rural lawmakers from both parties.
Hundreds of thousands of “orphaned” oil and gas wells and abandoned coal and hardrock mines pose serious safety hazards, while causing ongoing environmental damage. The administration sees the longstanding problem as an opportunity to create jobs and remediate pollution, including greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
The Daily Climate, March 11, 2021
Articles include: Saguaro cactuses are under threat because of climate change; Warming oceans mean smaller baby sharks struggle to survive; Food systems responsible for ‘one third’ of human-caused emissions; Bitcoin rise could leave carbon footprint the size of London’s; The economic case for restoring abandoned oil wells; Summer could last six months by 2100, study finds; As oil prices rise, executives aim to keep them high; Between a black rock and a hard place; Utah agency reverses course, pulls back energy leases in original Bears Ears monument; LAW: Big Tobacco had to pay $206B. Is Big Oil next?
Abandonment Issues – Orphan Wells – 2 articles
Grist discusses Abandonment Issues. The number of abandoned oil and gas wells is on the verge of exploding. These industry insiders want to be part of the solution. One was still in operation with a pumpjack attached. The other two hadn’t been touched in years. They looked like rusty old pipes sticking out of the ground. A few feet away from one were three large tanks with oil still pooled inside. If any leaked out, it would run down the hill and into a nearby lake. Lewellen wanted the whole mess cleaned up. So he called his grandson and son-in-law, who work in the oil and gas industry helping companies acquire leases and negotiate with landowners.
The Daily Climate discusses Abandoned O&G wells leave the ocean floor spewing methane. The Gulf of Mexico is littered with tens of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells, and toothless regulation leaves climate warming gas emissions unchecked.
The Number of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Is on The Verge of Exploding. What Happens Now?
Mother Jones discusses how The Number of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Is on The Verge of Exploding. What Happens Now? Industry insiders want to be part of the solution.
Bobby Wright says the seed of the idea was planted about a year and a half ago when he and his dad, Bob, were out on his grandparents’ ranch in Carter County, Oklahoma. Wright’s grandfather, Troy Lewellen, once grew pecans and raised cattle on the ranch, but at 83, he was retired and wanted to tie up any loose ends in his affairs. And sitting on his property, about a quarter of a mile from his house, were some very loose ends: three old oil wells.
One was still in operation with a pumpjack attached. The other two hadn’t been touched in years. They looked like rusty old pipes sticking out of the ground. A few feet away from one were three large tanks with oil still pooled inside. If any leaked out, it would run down the hill and into a nearby lake. Lewellen wanted the whole mess cleaned up. So he called his grandson and son-in-law, who work in the oil and gas industry helping companies acquire leases and negotiate with landowners.
These Zombies Threaten the Whole Planet – Orphan Wells
The New York Times discusses These Zombies Threaten the Whole Planet.
William Romaniuk stopped his tractor at the edge of his field and sniffed. A breeze came off the Saskatchewan River, rippling across rows of ripe wheat, but a caustic scent flooded his nose. An oil well between his crops and the river was leaking, and enough gas was flowing out of a pipe below the rusty pump jack that the farmer could smell gas and see it swirling in the air.
The site had been drilled in 1950 but hadn’t run since 2015. It was now spewing a blend of toxic, egg-smelling hydrogen sulfide and, quite likely, a much larger dose of odorless, flammable methane.
“They said, ‘don’t get too close to it,’” Mr. Romaniuk said, referring to the owners of the well. He put the tractor in gear and skirted the edge of the site, hoping he wouldn’t spark an explosion as he hurried to harvest.