Who Will Pay to Take California’s Defunct Oil Wells Offline?

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gas and oil production in California has been on a slow decline for decades, and more than a third of unplugged onshore oil wells are sitting idle. Those unplugged wells can leak methane, brine and carcinogenic chemicals — and are vulnerable to geological risks like earthquakes and landslides. A first-of-its-kind study, published by think tank Carbon Tracker, looks at the massive costs of decommissioning and cleaning up wells. With the costs of cleaning up exceeding the industry’s future profits by billions of dollars, the shortfall could mean that taxpayers are on the hook. We learn more about the study. Related link(s): Carbon Tracker, “There Will Be Blood: Decommissioning California’s Oilfields” ProPublica, “It Will Cost Up to $21.5 Billion to Clean Up California’s Oil Sites. The Industry Won’t Make Enough Money to Pay for It.” Guests: Mark Olalde, reporter covering the environment in the Southwest, ProPublica; reported the piece, "It Will Cost Up to $21.5 Billion to Clean Up California’s Oil Sites. The Industry Won’t Make Enough Money to Pay for It." Dwayne Purvis, founder and principal advisor, Purvis Energy Advisors; report author, "There will be blood: Decommissioning California’s Oilfields" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQWED podcasts comes from Landmark College, commemorating 40 years of educating people who learn differently, with programs on campus and online for both students and professionals.
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0:55.7	From KQED.
0:58.1	From KQED in San Francisco, this is Forum. I'm Scott Schaefer, in today for Mina Kim.
1:18.1	Oil and gas production in California have been declining for decades, and now more than a third of
1:23.9	unplugged onshore oil wells are sitting idle. A study out today from the think tank
1:29.3	carbon tracker looks at the massive costs of decommissioning and cleaning up wells, and while
1:35.3	you might think private companies should foot the bill, their investigation finds that taxpayers
1:40.5	might be on the hook for as much as $21 billion. We'll talk with one of the authors and a
1:46.1	reporter from ProPublica, which is publishing coverage of the report today. That's next after this
1:51.4	news.
2:00.6	This is Forum. I'm Scott Schaefer and today for Mina Kim. Well, as we all know, California has
2:06.2	embarked on very ambitious carbon emission and green energy goals for more than a decade now,
2:11.8	but we still use plenty of oil, gasoline, and natural gas, and some of that is pumped out of the
2:17.3	ground right here.
2:18.7	But gas and oil production in California have been declining for decades, and now more than a
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