‘A Fraudulent Scheme’: New Mexico Sues Texas Oil Companies for Walking Away From Their Leaking Wells

Oil and wastewater leak from a well in New Mexico’s Permian Basin that had been transferred from Remnant Oil Operating to Acacia Operating Co., two companies named in a recent lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general. Photo: Mark Olalde/ProPublica.

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

The state of New Mexico is accusing three Texas oil executives of orchestrating “a fraudulent scheme” to pocket revenue from hundreds of oil and gas wells in New Mexico and offload the cost of plugging and cleaning up the wells onto the state’s taxpayers. The suit, filed in late December by the New Mexico attorney general’s office, is the latest salvo in the state’s fight against oil and gas executives accused of foisting old wells onto the public.