What lies beneath us

Shortly after WWII, we began putting toxic liquid underground, using so-called injection.  Now it looks as though we may have a problem, after we have injected more than thirty trillion gallons of toxic liquid into wells deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground.  While the EPA has regulations as to the frequency and methods of testing these wells, there are serious questions about the extent to which the EPA goes to enforce these regulations.

A ProPublica study of more than 220,000 well inspections found that over the period from late 2007 to late 2010, one well integrity violation was issued for every six deep injection wells examined — more than 17,000 violations nationally. More than 7,000 wells showed signs that their walls were leaking.