Why Should YOU Pay to Clean Up Orphan Wells?
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Energy Minister Brian Jean says the public may have to pay to clean up thousands of Alberta's orphan wells. Shannon Phillips, Ken Boosenkool, and Tyler Meredith respond.
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No one but the oil companies should be paying for oil well cleanup.
100% Externalities should always be the sole responsibility of the industry who creates them. If not, they shouldn't be in business...
Ralph Klein caused this problem by not enforcing oil companies in Alberta to remediate their messes. Now, we are stuck with a mammoth bill of $260 billion to deal with this.
The UCP haven't helped and are blowing $20 billion on the R-Star debacle.
Peter Lougheed, who was the only good and sensible Conservative premier in Alberta, ensured that oil companies in Alberta cleanup after themselves.
Ralph Klein decimated this province, so much so we're dealing with the repercussions decades later. People gave him a pass because he was a folksy drunk.
@@lukerinderknecht2982 Postmedia doesn't get enough credit for keeping Albertans misinformed as well, especially in the last election. They where always bad, but Postmedia downplayed all these policies during the election, it was all just labeled fear mongering...
@@lukerinderknecht2982The $400 did it.
@@lukerinderknecht2982Ralph went through the Heritage Fund faster than he went through booze bottles.
@lukerinderknecht2982 That's what getting bribed with $400 does to them.
Clean up cost should be paid up front, by the extractor, not the public purse..........
...it’s how it works now, it’s called the orphan well fund and a license to drill/produce is not approved until the million dollars is paid.
TAX THE WORKING WELLS. Problem solved!
A good start would be re-directing the $14 billion per year in "equalization payments" that Quebec gets from Alberta to pay for some of the clean up.
Why should Quebec pay for Alberts mess? Oh just blame it on Trudeau.
Provinces do not send other provinces any money at all. Alberta never sent any money to Quebec, or to Ottawa at all. The Conservatives in Alberta wasted and lost exponential amounts of money on the most costliest debacles repeatedly, ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta.
@@spotty67 Yeah, Trudeau Sr and his National Energy Program which essentially tried to steal Alberta's oil for free. That's why Alberta doesn't trust Trudeau, the Liberals, or eastern Canada.
Alberta is not paying an extra tax dear. Equalization for every province who is in need, comes out of the income tax we all pay. You earn more (Albertan's have the highest average income in the country), you pay higher income tax. You should be glad that your income is so high that your province doesn't require aid in order to have EQUAL ACCESS to hospitals, health care, etc. And for the record, Quebec already pays a higher tax then you because their government requires it. Most Albertan's pay 10% up to $128,000 a year and over that, it goes to 12%. Quebecers income tax starts at 15%.
Further, equalization payments are pretty much based on how many people are in a province and on their income levels. Quebec has 8.45 million people whose income levels are about $51,000 a year compared to the average salary in Calgary or Edmonton of $64,000. Quebecers have lower income and pay higher taxes than you and because of the number of people in that province, there is still less money to make sure that everyone in Canada has equal access to the basics of Canadian life.
@@dwaynewladyka577it was the NDP that wasted the most money and increased the debt to its highest levels. in a record 4 years. They couldn’t hold together a prosperous province like alberta for a weekend it would be disastrous if they were in any longer.
I think firstly all the administrators of guilty companies should be personally sued for costs, as well as all Boards of Directors, as well as all share holders as owners and beneficiaries of the oil well.
Absolutely. They bribe the gov, line their pockets, and lie to the public.
Do you remember when the New York Times called out AB & Sonya Savage tried to lie directly into the camera?
Completely agree with this woman! And yet Alberta lets them get away with not cleaning up after themselves AND THEN actually pays them to clean up the messes they made! That is nuts! And thank you Justin Trudeau for HELPING ALBERTA with their abandoned oil wells and too bad Smith is such a lousy premier that all she wants to do is fight with the feds and ignores that help and the fact that Canadians are paying for another pipeline that Albertan's are likewise not grateful for.
.... here’s a fun fact for you, when the NDP were in office and all this cradle to grave legislation was put into place for oil, gas and mining...... solar and wind projects were exempted from these clean up rules.
@@mkrchnak5269That's an absolute lie.
@@mkrchnak5269 When the NDP were in power, it was for a mere four years, hardly enough time to cause significant damage out of 50 years of conservatism in one form or another. The oil industry began in 1914 so it's pathetic to accuse a four year government of being to blame for the mess this province is in. And now, the TBA/UCP regime of right wing nut bars are driving the province into a hole by their do-nothing program of only picking fights with the feds, killing jobs (24,000 full time jobs in the field of renewables), backing out of agreements made with Calgary, meddling in the personal medical decisions of people, destroying our health care system (I just found out my doctor is leaving the province!), and every other lousy decision and lie that they have made.
As for solar panels, there are numerous companies, including in Canada, where they are researching how to recycle all the components and make continued use of those panels. Too bad the oil companies didn't care enough to be as proactive when their wells were done. Instead they just moved on and left them to continue leaking into the atmosphere and poisoning the air and the land they sit on.
W5 did a documentary a few years ago that looked at the numbers of towns on homesteads where the abandoned gas wells have made it impossible for that land to be put back into production or developed and it is costing communities their futures. You should watch it and learn more about what your precious oil companies have done to this province. ua-cam.com/video/UfpejjeuOxs/v-deo.html
@@dwaynewladyka577 …… nope!!
Every oil company has to set up a remediation account on the balance sheet. The funds are set aside to return the site to its almost original condition. Those funds should be in a trust account held by a third party, uniquely identified and used solely to remediate the well. Interest would accrue into the trust account with no access given to the oil companies except for topping the amount up based on an annual inflation adjustment factor.
So where is this magical fund if conservatives were actually doing their job?
You need to stop complaining to the wind
And challenge these polluters where they wine and dine and discuss government policy because when the ucp is in power the guys and gals of the Edmonton and Calgary petroleum clubs are calling the shots.
Almost all Albertans probably don’t know that Trudeau helped Alberta .🇨🇦
Canada is a huge country with massive natural wealth and if governed correctly we would be one of the richest countries in the world. But instead we have had generations of governments who sell our natural resources for Pennie’s on the dollar and buy back the finish products at huge costs.
The law hasn’t held companies accountable for the almost two centuries we have been a country
Because this goes all the way back to Klein making rules with gaping hole so operators can just walk away.
And yes Smith is totally behind continuing giving freebees to the O&G industry.
They do employ a few good people.
The ALBERTA GOVERNMENT should stop sending millions/ billions to eastern Canada and use the money to clean up abandoned wells🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
I don't think Alberta wants to clean up any oil wells because they might need them for Carbon Storage Sites. Once they pump Carbon down an abandoned oil well, the Carbon will force the oil residue that couldn't be pumped out to come to the surface and be another cash cow for the oil industry. Any old oil wells are still extremely valuable, something the oil industry doesn't want the public to know. It's might be why they gave the money back to the Federal Government.
But its more important to use Albertas energies to oppose the Federal government than to deal with its environmental disaster
Nobody complains about a provincial surplus. Not everyone can work for the government. Do open pit mines clean up their mess.
There is no surplus in Alberta at all. In fact, there has been no surplus in Alberta, ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta. That's due to one thing only. The Conservatives in Alberta wasted and lost exponential amounts of money on the most costliest debacles repeatedly, ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta, and they gutted core programs, and left infrastructure in a bad state of disrepair.
The ALBERTA GOVERNMENT should stop sending millions/ billions to eastern Canada and use the money to clean up abandoned wells🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Alberta never sent a dime to other provinces. It doesn't do that. The Conservatives in Alberta shouldn't have wasted and lost exponential amounts of money on the most costliest debacles repeatedly, ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta.
@@dwaynewladyka577 In 2021, equalization will cost Alberta taxpayers $2.9 billion
Why did the NDP not do anything when they were in power? Getting regulations with teeth is an easy fix. Denying transfer of licenses when the buyer is financially unable to meet the cleanup burden is a great way to ensure sellers are accountable to Albertans. If I sell to a deadbeat who can’t clean up, it is easily remediated by the Regulator refusing to transfer the license and liability to buyer. The seller will remain on the hook until Albertans are indemnified.
We pay too much taxes ....boooo hooooo
In the early 1990s, the Alberta PCs gave away Alberta's oil and most of the subsequent profits to foreign owned entities, leaving Alberta with crumbs. That happened, and at that time the Alberta failed to properly come after oil companies in Alberta to remediate their messes, leaving Albertans with a mammoth bill of $260 billion to deal with this. That can't be fixed in only 4 years. With the Alberta PCs giving away Alberta's oil and most of the subsequent profits to foreign owned entities, and permanently altering the excellent oil royalty rates of Peter Lougheed, this lost Alberta $575 billion in revenue. On top of the $260 billion bill to remediate messes left behind by the oil companies in Alberta, caused by the Alberta PCs, the UCP are blowing $20 billion on the R-Star debacle. Furthermore, in the early 1990s, the Alberta PCs failed to properly upkeep infrastructure in Alberta, which left Alberta with an infrastructure debt that is now nearly $30 billion or even more. This has nothing to do with the NDP at all. When Peter Lougheed was premier of Alberta, he ensured that the oil companies cleanup after themselves.
Didn’t these oil companies pay out royalties to Alberta while they were producing oil and gas?
Money has already been collected. Take a portion of that in order to clean and reclaim the land.
I agree. Perhaps an adjustment to royalties needs to be made to account for this. This is the equivalent of collecting income tax at the source (each paycheque) instead of expecting individuals to pay the government like they would pay their phone bill each month.
In the early 1990s, the Alberta PCs permanently altered Peter Lougheed's excellent oil royalty rate structure, which lost Alberta $575 billion in added revenue. In the early 1990s, the Alberta PCs gave away Alberta's oil and most of the subsequent profits to foreign owned entities, leaving Alberta with crumbs.
Why BC probably said nope to twinning the pipeline.
Educate yourself before posting.
The rest of Canada has benefitted immensely from Alberta's oil industry so they need to pony up too.
The feds have already contributed more than $1B...which (sucks to say) is a drop in the bucket. -rpj
@joebush1663 The rest of Canada wasn't responsible for the negligence that the Conservatives in Alberta caused ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta. The federal government did give Alberta money to cleanup these abandoned oil wells in Alberta, but the UCP didn't use the money, and they had to return it.
When is Quebec going to remove their hydro dams and spend billions on land reclamation from the damage that the flooding wrought on the landscape?
@joebush1663 That's not even a good comparison. The tailings ponds in Alberta can be seen from outer space, because they are that large. Also, there is no mammoth $260 billion bill to remediate messes left behind by the oil companies, like there is in Alberta.
@@dwaynewladyka577 The hydro dams in Quebec can be seen from outer space. Also, the flooding of the James Bay Project resulted in the drowning deaths of 10,000s of caribou. Let alone the destruction of a million acres of forest and wildlife habitat.
Nice whataboutism there! The situation in Quebec has no impact on well clean up in Alberta. You may not have noticed- but this is not Quebec's jurisdiction. @@joebush1663
Whataboutism is the feeblest fucking defence there is, especially when you're talking apples and oranges.
@@JohnCampbell-rn8rz So hydro dams cause no environmental damage? Is this another leftie ecowhacko "nuanced" situation where "my team" does the same but gets a pass because tits my team?
Oil's Deep State: How the petroleum industry undermines democracy and stops action on global warming - in Alberta, and in Ottawa (2017) by Kevin Taft (Author)
As if no one in Alberta has benefitted from the oil and gas industry. Get a grip and quit whining.
We haven't benefitted, because the Conservatives in Alberta mismanaged it, ever since Peter Lougheed was no longer premier of Alberta.
So you think you should be paying for the clean up? Those companies agreed and signed contracts that included requiring them to clean up and you're just saying 'let 'em go'? Let them cheat the tax payer?
Exactly
@@ddhqj2023 So it was ok to tax the oil companies and pay for schools, hospitals, roads bridges but taxed till they went broke then blame them ok I get it....
Weird take, Freddy. Of course people have benefited. So have corporations. That doesn't mean they're entitled to break the law and leave a mess on landowners' hands. -rpj
Sell them and re-frac the old wells.
That's what the original owners did, they were used up and became financially unfeasible and then abandoned when those companies declared bankruptcy.
Sounds like a con Harper deal.
@@ddhqj2023.... I am in no way defending the companies that neglected their duties but the regulatory zealots and over taxation of of the producing facilities and it’s commodities by all levels of government has killed the goose that laid multiple golden eggs.
@@spotty67.... oh the low information crowd...... but, but, but Harper.
@@mkrchnak5269That's not what happened. This is what happened in Alberta. In the early 1990s, the Alberta PCs gave away Alberta's oil and most of the subsequent profits to foreign owned entities, leaving Alberta with crumbs. When the Alberta PCs permanently altered Peter Lougheed's excellent oil royalty rate structure, this lost Alberta $575 billion in added revenue. In the early 1990s, the Alberta PCs failed to properly come after oil companies in Alberta to remediate their messes, leaving Albertans with a mammoth bill of $260 billion to deal with this. That happened, because Ralph Klein didn't enforce oil companies in Alberta to remediate their messes like Peter Lougheed and Don Getty did. The Alberta PCs blew $35 billion on a bitumen upgrader debacle. The UCP blew well over $7 billion on a pipeline bet gone bad. The UCP blew money on grants to the petrochemical industry in Alberta, including giving a $408 million grant to a pipeline company which never used the money for any meaningful purpose. The UCP blew billions of dollars trying to prop up the Alberta PCs $35 billion bitumen upgrader debacle. The UCP are blowing $20 billion on the R-Star debacle. The UCP lost Alberta hundreds of millions of dollars by forsaking collecting property taxes from the oil companies in Alberta, which made municipalities in Alberta have to charge increased municipal property taxes as a result of this. The UCP were negligent with tailings pond leaks in northern Alberta, and now First Nations communities are suing the UCP and the AER, because of that. That's a gross mismanagement of the oil industry in Alberta.
Skank Smith looking after Albertans, is she?=lmfao.