Alberta auditor general says energy regulator is reforming how it evaluates and ensures the cleanup of old energy sites
Alberta’s system for managing environmental risks from old oilpatch facilities still hasn’t spelled out how it will collect security to ensure cleanups and doesn’t do enough to check that the work gets done, the province’s auditor general said Thursday.
However, he said that program has yet to deal with two major issues – the so-called “legacy sites” that have been abandoned and inadequate security collected to ensure the number of such sites doesn’t increase. Wylie said current programs that mandate spending on well closures may not be getting at the problem sites.He noted that 74 per cent of reclamation certificates have been issued for sites that were never brought into production.
The report emphasizes that, despite some reforms, important questions remain on how Alberta collects security from energy companies. About 17,000 suspended wells don’t comply with regulations. No process exists to ensure abandoned wells are living up to environmental standards. Automated approvals for reclaimed wells are rarely checked up on.
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