Ecojustice is pushing the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to strengthen the rules to hold the fossil fuel companies who are creating — and profiting from — oil and gas wells and infrastructure projects, to be responsible for the clean-up.
The AER has proposed making some changes to its Directives that govern liability management. Other than some important changes to increase transparency about well liabilities, the changes are unfortunately largely administrative.
On November 8, 2024, Ecojustice submitted feedback to the AER on its proposed Directives that go further – seeking to address the core, systemic problems with their approach to these abandoned wells, pipelines and facilities (for more information on Alberta’s inactive oil and gas wells and infrastructure, read our latest blog).
Here are some of our recommendations:
- We must collect securities from these companies at the outset: The AER needs to increase the unreasonably low estimates for regional clean-up costs and make sure companies are providing a security deposit upfront. The Government of Alberta has collected less than 0.5 percent of costs from the companies in charge of these wells (and the math just isn’t mathing).
We must follow suit with other jurisdictions to collect this “clean-up insurance” from oil and gas companies that are making money at the outset. This would ensure we can deal with the environmental and health issues these wells will cause down the line.
- We need more public transparency about these wells: It is shockingly difficult to get public information about the wells from the AER. We are asking for more information to be shared with Albertans – and better functionality of the AER’s website – to be able to find this important information. Information from the AER that is ‘publicly available’ must in all circumstances be free, understandable, easily navigable, publicly-posted online and be available without subscriptions or accounts. Because of the financial, environmental and health risks this oil and gas infrastructure poses, Albertans deserve to have clear and comparable information on how the companies and regulator are ensuring proper closure and clean-up is happening.
- We need a better closure nomination process for abandoned sites, and much more efficient clean-up plans: Time limits should be set for how long a well can sit inactive before it is abandoned and reclaimed. The Closure Nomination process should allow eligible landowners to nominate a well after it has been inactive for two years – not five years. There should be mandatory timelines on how long the AER takes to approve a closure plan and the time limits for completing the work (10-13 years the AER currently allows is unacceptably long!).
These suggestions will benefit the environment, the economy, and local communities. It will ultimately:
- Save Albertans money: Clean-up costs will likely fall on taxpayers if AER doesn’t revise its system. If industry is responsible for its own clean up, that taxpayer money could instead go to schools or health care, wildfire preparation or renewable projects – not as a subsidy to industry profits.
- Keep Albertans healthy and safe: This old infrastructure is just unsafe. Wells that are not closed and that are left unplugged, can leak explosive gases into the air and leach toxic fluids into land and water. Plugging a well helps protect groundwater and air quality. It also prevents greenhouse gasses from escaping and expediting climate change.
With growing health, environmental, financial consequences looming, the Alberta Energy Regulator must do more to hold the companies responsible to account – rather than making people pay while fossil fuel corporations continue to pollute and profit.
Want to learn more about the inactive oil and gas wells and infrastructure in Alberta? Read our latest blog on Alberta’s Inactive and Orphan Wells Threaten Wallets, Health and Nature: Will the Fossil Fuel Industry Dine-and-Dash on its Clean Up Responsibilities in Alberta?
