Unfolding: Alberta Government plan to give big handouts to O&G Corporation

One more tidbit from the UCP that should be no surprise but is nonetheless, unconscionable.

Aging oil and gas infrastructure can cause air, soil and water contamination, but internal documents show companies are far more likely to deal with the lower-hanging fruit and clean up sites that were never in production. Photo: Amber Bracken / The Narwhal

How does the above relate to coal? This orphan well represents one of many hundreds of sites in Alberta that the UCP government is about to place the responsibility of on taxpayers. If this goes through, and apparently is currently in the works, you can bet that abandoned coal mines will be falling into the same category.

Some orphaned wells, like this one near Camrose, Alta., are in poor shape. Documents show the regulator doesn’t know the full extent of contamination from oil and gas activities in the province, but said in 2019 it was aware of 577 sites with known contamination, 400 of which could be deemed high risk to the public or the environment. Photo: Amber Bracken / The Narwhal.

Landowners are contending with these on their properties, they are in public parks, and accordian to one individual, even in a school yard.

So clearly, you won’t find a coal mine in those places, but the point is about abandonment and reclamation. The following is an email I just received with the information on this orphaned well subject provided by the Alberta Environmental Network. There is one single question to answer in reply and I encourage you do so. Just click the link below under the heading Actions You Can Take. Thanks!

Alberta Environmental Network

As promised, this is an update on our government's plans to force Albertans like you and me—not industry—to pay for cleaning up 80,000 old O&G wells. On April 3, the government released its Mature Asset Strategy (MAS) report. This process, dominated by O&G industry reps and led by David Yager, a longtime oilpatch consultant and political insider, includes no public consultation. Rural Municipalities of Alberta participants say it was biased from the start.

The key reasons this could financially hit Albertans are

• The government is deciding, with industry, how to manage mature assets (old wells) in Alberta with a backlog of clean-up costs in the billions of dollars.

• If made into law, many of the recommendations in their report would shift the cost burden for cleanup from industry onto taxpayers.

• The government is looking at scrapping the Polluter Pay Principle that ensures corporations pay what they owe to clean up their old wells, unpaid taxes (already in excess of a quarter billion dollars) and land payments.

The government's hand was forced to release this report. The recommendations use vague, undefined terms that put taxpayers at risk.

• Creation of "new entities" to assume liability for end-of-life O&G wells—why are new entities needed?

• "Additional financial support" to accelerate closure—where is that money coming from if not taxpayers?

• "Risk-based closures"—will some wells be left unplugged or unreclaimed?

Is this in Albertans' best interests when a 2023 poll found that 94% of Albertans believe oil & gas companies—not taxpayers—should pay for cleaning up inactive and abandoned wells?

Actions you can take

Tell us here if you think oil and gas companies NOT taxpayers, through government subsidies, should pay for cleaning up inactive and abandoned oil and gas wells.

Tell the Alberta Government: No More Handouts to Big Oil

• Call your MLA: Phone Directory

• Call Hon. Brian Jean (Minister of Energy & Minerals): Phone Number

• Call Hon. Premier Danielle Smith: Phone Number