BLM has failed to inspect thousands of high-risk oil wells, according to a congressional investigation

"The government has failed to inspect thousands of oil and gas wells it considers potentially high risks for water contamination and other environmental damage, congressional investigators say," Hope Yen reports for The Associated Press. Investigators from the bipartisan Government Accountability Office of Congress said weak control by the Bureau of Land Management "resulted from policies based on outdated science and from incomplete monitoring data."

Investigators, who reviewed oil and gas wells in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, found that BLM "failed to conduct inspections on more than 2,100 of the 3,702 wells that it had specified as 'high priority' and drilled from 2009 through 2012," Yen writes. The agency, which had yet to indicate whether another 1,784 wells were high priority or not, "considers a well 'high priority' based on a greater need to protect against possible water contamination and other environmental safety issues."

"The report said BLM has not reviewed or updated many of its oil and gas rules to reflect technological advances as required by a 2011 executive order," Yen writes. "They include guidance on spacing of wells, which the report said could help maximize oil and gas production." (Read more)