This article first appeared at ProPublica and Capital and Main. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Privatized profits.
Socialized costs.
The obvs modus operandi of the awl bidness.
Sure, isn’t it the American way that when you make money fast enough nobody can lay a hand on you?
It is called Free Enterprise for a reason.
An excellent report but no surprises, neither the grossly inadequate preparation for cleanup nor the relative lack of due diligence by most of the responsible parties. If history is any judge, most of the misfeasance and malefactors are more or less in the clear, legally defensible in some way even if only by bankruptcy law.
“There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect” and it looks like the public weal is the out-group once again.
As Jesus intended
At any drilling site, the majors, like ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, etc, are shielded from liability by a gaggle of LLCs who do the actual drilling.
It starts with the company that does site prep.
Followed by the rig mover. Then the drilling contractor, then the well service company who bring the well on line. Also numerous sub contractors from the on site geologist to the contractors who specifically attach the blowout preventer. Lots of potential scapegoats for bad behavior.
And yet one would think shielding the majors should not in principle be possible: that they bear whole responsibility as lessors/owners and developers receiving both public subsidy and profit from products and this would include appropriate management of their subs. Or at least one would think so in a world where responsibility and appropriate distribution of liability was taken seriously. I think what rankles is not just that those with connections to power and influence get away with it – succeeding in distributing the consequences of their malfeasance to those without the ability to avoid it – but that they considered themselves clever, even laudable as ‘captains of industry.’
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” ― Frédéric Bastiat
“Greed is good,” is the fruit that we picked from the tree of knowledge. For some reason, we can’t imagine any way of living that doesn’t allow individuals to accumulate absurd amounts of resources, or would allow us to collectively address global threats. It’s a failure of imagination to think that the same cultural systems that worked when technology barely magnified our footprints, and when there were so many fewer feet walking the earth, should be maintained now that human beings have gained the power to incinerate, poison, or suffocate the earth. Greed is not good, and it makes sense to agree to restrict profits that would be made at the expense of lives and the environment.
Spoiler alert to the larger story of the fossil fuel industry, the actual cost ends up being a lot of human deaths.
The circle of strife.
Who are the “good actors” in the oil industry again? Seriously, it is the big oil companies that are preventing any accountability by the small oil companies that come in to take over wells.
Same game played by coal companies in eastern KY. Strip the land with a ridiculously low reclamation bond, declare bankruptcy, leave the cleanup to State and or Feds.
OK, minor nit, but:
New Mexico’s Democrat-controlled government in Santa Fe
Should be “New Mexico’s Democratic controlled government in Santa Fe.”
[Ed:] Even better, “New Mexicos Democratically controlled government in Santa Fe.”
Thank you! Ordinarily I might give up a syllable but not this one. You know why.
This is a treasure of a story. The folks reporting this story, ProPublica, deserve kudoes for this. I’m blown away by what I’m learning. The folks who risked their lives around those sick wells to get measurements are nerd HEROS. Wow!
This is on politicians who fail to regulate in their states. Any industry would take advantage of lax regulations if given an opportunity.
Wyoming is a red state, yet they manage to regulate. Not saying it’s on one party or the other, it’s on both parties who love donations and perks from lobbyists more than the environment.
There is a satellite that will be launched soon that can detect methane leak sources from space all over the globe:
And the oil industry is far from dying. The US is producing more oil than ever, 13.3 million bpd. All the majors have bought out smaller rivals for record prices because things have never looked better profit wise. OXY, XOM, Hess, and Chevron all have recently announced multi billion acquisitions. Not what a dying industry does. Warren Buffett is still increasing his holdings in the oil industry and is the largest shareholder of OXY.
We have the USDA and FDA to regulate on a federal level. About time we have a federal OGA (oil, gas administration) The only way to regulate states like Texas and Oklahoma where lobbyists dictate the rules is do it on a federal level.
Those guys are grifters and thieves. OTOH the true cost of gas is likely north of $20. So in a way we all contribute to the problem every time we fill up.
Sort of. Peak oil was in 1979 I think.
