Spyke
Pika
sh.itjust.works

The Los Angeles City Council took a first step Tuesday to reinstate a law that bans new oil drilling and requires existing wells to be phased out over the next two decades.

Is it just me or, does 20 years seem like a really long phase out period. Like it sounds like that can just do this song and dance every 20 years and not have to worry about it. That amount of time is plentiful time to get a temporary rewrite or removal of a law before backlash can make it have to revert, and then be solid for another 20 years of drilling.

11
silence7reply
slrpnk.net

No, it means that they start plugging old wells right away. But they won't finish the job until 20 years from now.

They're @#$@# expensive to plug in a way that will stay sealed forever. Think a million dollars or two.

4
Pikareply
sh.itjust.works

That makes sense, I figured it was a you had 20 years to decommission and cap it before you faced penalty type of deal.

3
supernicepojo
lemmy.world

Cool, abandoned oil wells in one of the most populated places in the US. Take a look at OK and TX issues with old wells. With no plan in place to allow for the environmental impact of forgotten infrastructure in 20 years it will be a leaky awful mess.

3
supernicepojoreply
lemmy.world

Are there any funds or plans in place to allow for cleanup? Theres quite a few stories of housing developments being built over forgotten oil wells that a just toxic waste losses to the families that dared to buy a house in the Wrong Spot.

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silence7reply
slrpnk.net

California has unfortunately let the oil majors fraudulently transfer their cleanup liabilities to smaller firms which don't have the resources to plug the wells properly. The public is going to be on the hook to the tune of several billion dollars

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Los Angeles officials vote to phase out oil drilling within city limits — again | Spyke