Oil and gas spills top 16,000 in 2012; less than 10% of cases result in fines

"If Kristi Mogen causes a crash on the road, she knows she'll probably get a ticket and have to pay a fine. So she's frustrated that Wyoming officials didn't fine Chesapeake Energy Corp. for an April 2012 blowout near her home outside Douglas, Wyo. The ruptured gas well spewed gas and chemicals for three days, forcing her and her neighbors to evacuate their homes.

There are thousands of oil spills at the nation's onshore oil and gas well sites every year. But the data are scattered amid databases, websites and even file drawers of state agencies across the country. EnergyWire spent four months mining the data for the most comprehensive report available on the spills that result from the nation's booming oil and gas industry.

"There's no punishment on that. There's nothing," said Mogen, who believes the gas and chemicals released in the spill sickened her family. "They're just going around with business as usual."

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