The orphan wells trace back to a tangled web of foreign investors, a company based in the British Virgin Islands and a last-ditch effort to sell to a Chinese company for $22M

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[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 31 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Each and every well should not be started until a trust is set up with the cost of cleanup deposited in it. Once the company quits the well from either it drying up or the company going under, the trust is given to the government including the interest to pay for cleanup.

Not one shovel should hit soil until the cleanup is already prepaid.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

There is a cleanup fund that o&g companies are supposed to be paying in to, but miss maple maga has never enforced it, and the fund is bone dry.

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If provincial idiot won't do it then it is on the federal government to introduce and enforce rules to benefit the citizens of the stupid areas.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Well, it used to be that the resources and mining were federally owned, thanks to Pierre Trudeau, but Mulroney had that repealed. We'd have all been way better off if we still got to keep the profits of our resource extraction.

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

If we were to take them back like we probably should I feel like some Marines would be rolling in like we were a banana plantation.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Dude. Every company running a well is 99-100% foreign-owned, and STILL the AB gov isn't hardly taxing them for the mess and the loss of resources. Getting them to put up a bond for cleanup I worry is a bridge too far.

There's so much that has to be fixed with that. Let's see if they ever get a non-con gov.

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It is too late to get money from these companies if they fold, especially since they are practically created to fold as soon as the aren't getting the expected return on investment.

Prepaying is the only way to make sure they are responsible. If it leads to them not starting as many wells then they are only proving that they weren't planning on cleaning up afterwards to begin with.

[–] Grimpen@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Just so long as they aren't pre-paying with IOU's. There is lots of cases with pension funds having a bunch of company bonds or other debt instruments that become worthless when the company folds (Nortel comes to mind).

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago

Canadian dollars only. In a trust or financial device that pays out to the government not the company. Non refundable but transferrable if you don't end up drilling that well then it can move to another proposed well.

In case they think of asking for the money back if they clean up themselves, it still needs a third party inspection after a 5 year period to insure the clean up wasn't half assed before payout of initial deposit. All interest goes to environmental protection agencies.