A rig pumps oil in the unincorporated Windsor Hills area of Los Angeles adjacent to homes Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. The Inglewood oil field, one of the richest oil basins in the world where crude was discovered in 1924, sits adjacent to an area of homes once known as the "black Beverly Hills." Rather than eventually playing out and becoming an elaborately planned urban park, a new operator in 2004 began drilling what was planned to be the first of some 600 new wells over the next 20 years, without environmental review. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)There is an article disturbing enough to resume posting.
Not only is the regulatory environment for oil and gas drilling in much need of improvement, there are regulators who even go beyond the rubber stamping of drilling permits. An excerpt from an Associated Press article, "One state engineer charged with granting new permits apparently saw himself as more of a cheerleader for Plains (Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co., PXP) than an impartial regulator, according to e-mails acquired by The Associated Press and an investigation by the state auditor. Not only did he own stock in the company whose wells he was approving, he solicited donations from the oil companies he regulated for his wife's nonprofit.
"Just keep up the good work," state regulator Floyd Leeson wrote to a high-ranking Plains' official in March 2005, "and I will TRY to keep (my boss) from hitting you guys with any more retarded fines ... Remember, I'm on YOUR side ... go PXP!"'
-- By NOAKI SCHWARTZ (AP )
March 14, 2010
Link to article>>>>
There are regulators who try to do their job well. This article can not be pleasing to them.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment