Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says plans for cleaning up abandoned or inactive oil wells are to be made public in two weeks.
She says public funding won’t be needed for the new initiatives, despite a draft government report leaked to media that explicitly says the opposite.
The report recommends creating new companies backstopped by taxpayers that would acquire abandoned wells and use revenues from them to fund the cleanup.
It also recommends setting up an insurance fund financed by industry that is ultimately backstopped by the province.
Get daily National news
Smith says no decisions have been made yet but that having companies acquire and produce oil from abandoned wells to create new revenue sources for cleanup is an idea worth considering.
But she says that plan isn’t without risk as there are no guarantees that abandoned wells will be profitable.
“I think we have to be prepared for that,” she said.
- Inside Alberta’s separatism movement: Residents on what’s driving them to stay or leave
- Stop Toronto island airport expansion, Ontario NDP leader asks Mark Carney
- LeBlanc travelling to Washington to meet with Trump’s trade czar Tuesday
- Saskatchewan drug traffickers can now face civil lawsuits for related damages
“I’ll be interested to see how the public feels about it.”
_848x480_1435568707728.jpg?w=1200&quality=70&strip=all)
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.