Over 27,000 abandoned oil wells in Gulf of Mexico
An Associated Press investigation has uncovered the shocking fact that over 27,000 abandoned oil wells lie insufficiently guarded or unmonitored in the Gulf of Mexico. 600 of them are BP wells. The oldest of these oil wells was abandoned in the late 1940s and 3,500 of the wells are officially categorized as ‘temporarily abandoned’, raising questions about whether they are properly sealed. From an AP report: Regulations for temporarily abandoned wells require oil companies to present plans to reuse or permanently plug such wells within a year, but the AP found that the rule is routinely circumvented, and that more…
