Oily Leakage

CleanTechnica: "Oilfield Binge & Purge: Another Reason To Ditch Fossil Fuels." The state of Oklahoma "has done a good job of exploiting its wind energy resources, but its deep roots in the oil + gas industry keep popping up to haunt its people with polluted air, water, + soil." Back in 1907, Oklahoma lifted the largest quantity of crude oil, but in modern times it has been outstripped by Texas + Pennsylvania, among others. It also holds the transportation + storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma—aka the “pipeline crossroads of the world”—thus remains the designated delivery + pricing point West Texas Intermediate [WTI] crude oil, which serves as the US benchmark.

The state has 'catalogued about 20,000 orphan wells, but federal researchers believe the true number may be over 300,000, based on historic industry data and airborne imaging techniques that identify old wells underground,' During fracking, the initial 'produced wastewater' laced with chemicals is often dealt with by reinfection into other played-out wells. After pumping to exhaustion, the fracked wells in turn are often neglected. "Left uncapped, they…allow deposits of oil and gas fracking wastewater to creep back up to the surface. Additionally, "the state has been experiencing a rapid rise in the number of “purges,” episodes in which fracking waste literally pours up out of the ground, far from any known subsurface disposal sites.

"A review of pollution complaints revealed 150 purges have been reported over the past five years…in comparison, in 2020 state officials identified just 10. “The purges were occurring near wells where companies were injecting oil field wastewater at excessively high pressure, high enough to crack rock deep underground and allow the waste to travel uncontrolled for miles,” Finally, "earthquake hazards have also been linked to fracking waste disposal in Oklahoma and other states." Clearly, regulation + enforcement are needed for these ugly orphan wells.