Filling The Gaps contends oil and gas companies should pay to cleanup their oil and gas operations, not taxpayers and landowners.
To guarantee responsible behavior, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and state agencies should require companies to post a full damage deposit – financial assurance – as a security against possible problems, along with reclamation plans detailing how a site will be restored. Unfortunately, the amounts of this financial assurance required fall grossly short of potential cleanup costs.