California State shuts 12 oil company wells that pumped waste into aquifers
By David R. BakerMarch 3, 2015 Updated: March 3, 2015 8:54pm
Photo: Jae C. Hong, Associated Press
State shuts 12 oil company wells that pumped waste into aquifers
March 3, 2015Updated: March 3, 2015 8:54pm
State officials have ordered oil companies to shut 12 more wells that injected oil-field wastewater into drinkable aquifers beneath California’s drought-stricken Central Valley, regulators reported Tuesday.The wells, used to dispose of water left over from oil production, are clustered in Kern County, the heart of the state’s petroleum industry. All have pumped water laced with oil and trace chemicals into aquifers that could be used for drinking or irrigation in the valley’s fields and orchards.
They are the result of three decades of bureaucratic confusion among state and federal regulators that allowed oil companies to drill hundreds of…
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