Efficacy of Oil and Gas Production Site Remediation in U.S. Arid/Semi-Arid Regions

Oil and gas production (OGP) is expanding, paralleled by its polluting leaks and spills (LS), and outpaced by its waste. This raises the question: Does remediation of LS occur effectively when needed to protect the environment and public, particularly in major producing regions like arid/semi-arid regions (ASAR), which account for approximately 72% of US oil and 42% of gas production? To answer, a review of the eight largest national remedial laws, sourced from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), identified 14 OGP exemptions for remedial determinants (RDs): factors affecting remedial frequency and efficacy (e.g. LS monitoring and chemical disclosure). An analysis of remedial frequency compared data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) LS dataset to EPAs Enforcement and Compliance datasets, revealing about 0.06% of 1,097 reported LS are remediated annually. However, LS frequency is much higher but undetected due to federal exemptions limiting detection. The legal review and remedial rate analysis suggest that remediation doesn’t occur when needed to protect the environment or public. Restricted remedial efficacy was further confirmed through an analysis of the Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable’s (FRTR) remedial matrix, which catalogs 49 remedial methods; only 17 were somewhat applicable to OGP pollution in the largest producing regions: ASAR. Because EPA asserts that states supplement federal exemptions, state policies in the three largest producing states (Texas (TX), New Mexico (NM), and Pennsylvania (PA)) were reviewed, finding these states adopt most exemptions and rarely expand RD policies. Additionally, state remedial rates were established and compared to national rates, revealing TX and NM rates are lower than 1%, suggesting state remediation is as infrequent and ineffective as federal remediation. A spatial analysis further shows TX and NM’s producing counties, which are ASAR counties, are mostly rural, low-income, and communities of color, while PA’s counties are mostly white, rural, and mid-income. Despite having more RD codes, ASAR leverages less remedial resources than PA. For instance, TX and NM have an inspector to well ratio of 2,500:1, taking over five years to inspect, while PA has a ratio of 788:1, taking 2.5 years. This study identifies correlations between increasing pollution and RD exemptions, highlighting OGP remediation is insufficient to protect environments and public health, particularly in historically marginalized producing counties. To resolve inequities and increase remedial frequency and efficacy, this study calls for federal policy reforms like repealing exemptions, increasing enforcement resources, enhancing data transparency, requiring passive remediation, incentivizing remedial research, and creating a Clean Soil Act.