Orphan well cleanup plan coming next month, says Alberta premier
Danielle Smith says public funding won't be needed for the new initiatives
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says plans for cleaning up abandoned or inactive oil wells are to be made public in two weeks.
On Wednesday, Smith said public funding won't be needed for the new initiatives, despite a draft government report leaked to media that says the opposite.
The report recommends creating new companies backstopped by taxpayers that would acquire orphaned 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.
Smith says no decisions have been made yet but that having companies acquire and produce oil from orphaned 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 orphaned wells will be profitable.
"I think we have to be prepared for that," she said.
"I'll be interested to see how the public feels about it."