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wdwerker t1_itsfemp wrote

Poorly capped oil wells are a contributor. Apparently there are thousands of them that companies sell off to a shell that goes bankrupt to avoid the responsibility.

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Just_wanna_talk t1_ittouik wrote

I've always felt we need some sort of company insurance system to pay for oil gas and mining operations.

Have a company pay a yearly fee in order to extract minerals or oil and gas which goes into a fund and when they close operations and can prove everything has been done correctly they get half of whatever they paid into the fund back. The other half remains in the fund.

If they do not close down operations correctly or they go bankrupt and cannot, the funds can be used to do it for them. It could also be used to clean up environmental disasters like oil spills in the ocean or tailings pond breaches from mines, etc.

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but-imnotadoctor t1_ittz6x9 wrote

But that make profit small. Small profit bad. Big profit good.

Honestly, this is a brilliant idea. That's how I know it will never happen.

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Phoenix4264 t1_itusbur wrote

That is essentially what CERCLA (The Comprehensive Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980), better known as Superfund, is supposed to be. It was originally funded by a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries. The tax was never high enough, and in 1995 it expired and was funded from the general funds after that. The tax was reinstated in 2021.

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TheReal-JoJo103 t1_ituuul7 wrote

This is how they fund decommissioning wind/solar so they can't just go bankrupt. Either through an account held by a third party or through performance bonds. Granted decommissioning a wind/solar farm is far easier since they aren't releasing hard to trace gasses or hiding issues underground that can well up decades later.

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saposmak t1_itt7imq wrote

A Shell, you say?

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wdwerker t1_itt81jc wrote

Shell companies used to hide their ownership.

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saposmak t1_itt8t4j wrote

Heh, I get it, just making a silly joke.

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RaiderMan1 t1_ittzog5 wrote

The bankruptcy part is not real common. Working in the industry, I know a few companies with that rep, but they’re rare. Now why do the courts pay execs of these companies millions to “steer the company out of bankruptcy”? I have not idea.

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alwaysadmiring t1_itvv1e0 wrote

Oil and gas companies that are newly being created in Alberta from what I understand require a deposit to be paid upfront for the wells they plan to drill to cover expenses should they Need to reclaim The wells to a safe environment. What this forces is basically no shell companies being created to simply take all the liability and no actual actions.

Also wanted to mention I’ve used aerial surveillance vendors on more local scales to fly across all the oil and gas properties across AB and SK that use FLIR and gas leak detection technology to indicate to us GPS coordinates where they noticed CH4 (methane) higher than 2 PPM (baseline). I’m not sure what the satellite technology costs will be but certainly technology that is very useful And already being used to ensure we minimize leaks where possible !

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wdwerker t1_itvx228 wrote

Good idea going forward but still closing the barn after they all escaped.

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