This is the New York Times! It is a piece of blatent propaganda against the oil & gas industry. It is a bald attempt to scare its readers in the Marcellus Shale about the perils of hosting natural gas drilling.
If the burden was going to end up on the taxpayers -- and not the evil oil & gas companies and their cronies on the Oil & Gas Commission -- don't you think they'd come right out and flat say as much, rather than slyly infer it?
Either the Wyoming taxpayers will end up paying for the cost or part of the cost of capping these played out wells or they won’t. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
I don’t think it’s a scare tactic. I think it is just saying to think about all the close out costs more carefully and get money up front in case (as it seems in this article) companies go bankrupt before they can finish the job.
If the article helps other States get the close-out costs paid for in advance, then it is a good thing.
In general taxpayers SHOULD be more cynical and skeptical about all kinds of business ventures (not just oil and gas) that may possibly leave them as the patsy. For example, we’re now seeing this coming up with Obamacare having built in bailouts for the insurance industry.
Yes, I’m probably cynical and see bailouts behind every tree and under every rock. But events of the last 7 years tend to make one think like that.