Well site reclamation costs worry critics
Posted Apr 9, 2011 9:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Abandoned oil wells in Alberta represent a $21 billion liability.
That’s according to the Energy Resources Conservation Board which says the figure includes the cost of cleaning up abandoned well sites, pipelines and other oil production infrastructure throughout the province.
A decade ago, there were 25,000 unremediated well sites in Alberta. Now there are 47,000 abandoned sites across the province. Of those, 29,000 are capped and have been sitting idle for more than a decade.
The Calgary Herald reports on Jack Howard’s farm near Munson, the family has been dealing with damaged land since 1964.
The costs of reclaiming the land can range from $10 thousand to over a million dollars.
It is the financial responsibility of energy companies to remediate the land. But critics are worried that some of that $21 billion tab might end up being footed by taxpayers.
