It's about time someone starts giving orders to the oil industry instead of letting them call the shots. Besides the idle oil wells, it may be worth doing a sample study of 27,000 old wells that are closed. Perhaps the oil industry invested time and money to permanently close them with care, but taking their word for it means little.
Now is the time to let Big Oil live by the same rules as everyone else. There's a reason why their profits are the highest ever on the planet.
The US is set to require oil companies to plug 3,500 non-producing Gulf of Mexico oil wells in an effort to prevent future leaks, officials say.
The interior department will also require companies to dismantle 650 unused oil and gas platforms.
Some installations have sat idle for decades without inspection for leaks.
