Background

Right now, the Alberta Energy Regulator is holding a Liability Management Review on the environmental risks and costs associated with reclaiming oil and gas wells in Alberta.  

There are over 330,000 wells in Alberta in need of reclamation immediately or in the coming years, and cleaning up these wells could cost up to a hundred billion dollars [1].

The problem is, the provincial government’s corporate-friendly approach to industry regulation means that oil and gas companies aren’t setting aside money to clean up their own mess.

Regan Boychuk and Brent Nimeck are researchers and oil patch veterans who have a plan to take on this problem. It's called RAFT: Reclaiming Alberta’s Future Today. RAFT calls on the government to hold oil and gas companies to their legal obligation under the federal and provincial “polluter pays” principle, and fund a massive cleanup that could put tens thousands of unemployed Albertans back to work.  Regan and Brent have been invited to submit the RAFT plan to the Alberta Energy Regulator's Liability Management review.  

Take Action

1. Protect the public from footing the cleanup bill for over 330,000 oil and gas wells;
2. Use a "polluter pays" framework to start a reclamation boom in Alberta and put tens of thousands back to work;
3. Publicly release the results of the Liability Management Review once it's complete.

Healing the land through reclamation can also begin to rebalance the scales of justice with Indigenous communities in the province, after a hundred years of increasingly intensive oil and gas exploration.

One of the values held by the Leap community is a belief that the time for incremental change is past. We need bold, radical action if we are to match the scale and urgency of the social and environmental crises we face today.

Implementing RAFT would shift Alberta away from its reliance on fossil fuel production and launch a green jobs boom in the province. Sign this petition and let's get to work!

More information

• [1] Five things that will blow your mind about Alberta’s oil and gas wells, theleap.org (August 23, 2017)

• “Review of old wells to protect Albertans, environment”, Alberta government (May 10, 2017)

• “A bold clean-up plan for Alberta’s giant oil industry pollution liabilities”, The Tyee (November 4, 2016)