Study: Thousands of oil and gas wells not inspected Unenforced regulations linked to underfunding, understaffing and efforts from groups like ALEC

Regulations at oil and gas wells around the country consistently go unenforced, according to a report released this week by the Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project.

The damning report, "Breaking All the Rules: The Crisis in Oil and Gas Regulatory Enforcement," found that every state studied failed to adequately enforce regulations, with thousands of oil and gas wells uninspected every year. Earthworks highlight understaffing and underfunding as key factors in unenforcement.

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The report notes:

The U.S. faces a crisis in the enforcement of rules governing the oil and gas industry. The shale gas and shale oil boom has brought an expansion of oil and gas activity unseen in many parts the country since the 19th century. Unfortunately, as this report shows, states are dangerously unprepared to oversee current levels of extraction, let alone increased drilling activity from the shale boom.

Earthworks argues that, for most major energy companies, the cost penalties over unenforced regulations are factored into budgets as "the cost of doing business" -- serving as little deterrence to improve inspection records.

DeSmog Blog fellow Steve Horn posits a more sinister "design" behind the regulatory failures, pointing to the efforts of right-wing lobby groups like ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), which -- with vast financial backing from oil and gas corporations -- have successfully gutted environmental oversight in many oil and gas industry states.

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