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Environmental Hazards and Local Investment: A Half-Century of Evidence from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells

Environmental Hazards and Local Investment: A Half-Century of Evidence from Abandoned Oil and Gas... The United States may have more than 1 million abandoned oil and gas wells that were never properly decommissioned (plugged) and that may be leaking harmful liquids and gases. Exploiting the quasi-random assignment of well plugging in a large county in Pennsylvania, we find that over half a century—and in some cases over a century—the two acres around unplugged wells had roughly half as much building as around plugged wells. Further analysis suggests less local investment rather than shifting within a locality. Forgone investment, in turn, depressed property values by 12%. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists University of Chicago Press

Environmental Hazards and Local Investment: A Half-Century of Evidence from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells

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Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Copyright
© 2022 The Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. All rights reserved.
ISSN
2333-5955
eISSN
2333-5963
DOI
10.1086/719383
Publisher site
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Abstract

The United States may have more than 1 million abandoned oil and gas wells that were never properly decommissioned (plugged) and that may be leaking harmful liquids and gases. Exploiting the quasi-random assignment of well plugging in a large county in Pennsylvania, we find that over half a century—and in some cases over a century—the two acres around unplugged wells had roughly half as much building as around plugged wells. Further analysis suggests less local investment rather than shifting within a locality. Forgone investment, in turn, depressed property values by 12%.

Journal

Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists – University of Chicago Press

Published: Jul 1, 2022

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