Goal: Clean up abandoned oil wells that lie inactive across the province before they become a catastrophe.
Nearly 170,000 oil wells across Alberta have been abandoned but never properly dealt with. More than half of them have not been safely closed, and the remained have yet to be reclaimed. Many of these wells have been inactive for over a decade, and the energy sector predicts more than 6,000 more will be shut down before the end of the year.
These inactive wells have caused $245 million in outstanding property taxes. To make matters even more dire, around 10% of these wells will leak toxic substances into the surrounding soil. Damage has already been noted by many landowners, and this is just the beginning.