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Ruling on wells right for the land

Canada’s top court has made a decision, which will have some Foothills area landowners breathing a bit easier about their properties’ future.

Canada’s top court has made a decision, which will have some Foothills area landowners breathing a bit easier about their properties’ future.

The Supreme Court ruled last week the environment will take top priority over creditors when land is damaged due to abandoned wells as a result of oil and/or gas companies going bankrupt.

This ruling overturns two lower court decisions in the case of Okotoks’ Redwater Energy that said bankruptcy law has paramount over provincial environmental responsibilities.

The decision won’t mean there will be immediate environmental recovery for the thousands of abandoned wells in Alberta — including in the Foothills area — but it does provide a small flare of hope.

Sure, property owners are supposed to receive payments from oil companies for the rights to have wells on their property, but it doesn’t necessarily pay for peace of mind.

They deserve the peace of mind.

After all, they don’t have the right to say no, while landowners have property rights, they don’t have mineral rights.

Albertans should be left holding as small a portion as possible of environmental land reclamation costs due to abandoned wells. A C.D. Howe Institute report done in 2017 said costs due to orphan wells range from $130-million to $8 billion — a staggering amount.

It’s going to be tough — even with the ruling it’s hard to get money from a bankrupt company — the financial well may have run dry.

Fortunately, the majority of oil companies are good stewards of the land and have good partnerships with property owners.

However, the Supreme Court decision is some insurance for the environment, and may also provide some peace of mind for those who work and live off that land.




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