Ndp will turn oil wells into green free energy in Alta

[maryjane48]

Alberta's abandoned oil wells could soon be transformed into sites for green energy production.

As the province's oil industry continues to slump there's been debate over whether government or corporations should pay for the clean up of so-called orphan wells.

The Living Energy Project pilot project is working to convert an abandoned oil well to one that captures geothermal energy. If it works, it could not only ease the debate over the well clean up, but also create jobs for out-of-work Albertans.

http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/11456870


Here is more evidence the alberta ndp have the right mindset for future of albertans

[Veovis]

Cost? They are happy to quote other peoples costs and numbers but not their own. Even though the expensive part is done (they say) if the costs outweigh the benefits it is a bad project that sounds nice.

Again we are seeing the jumping of the gun in celebration and congratulating the government in Alberta of being wonderful when this is really not the AB NDP making anything but a separate group asking to try something, a cool something that can possibly be beneficial. I would say fund 1-2 wells for proof of concept (as long as they have a strong method and won't somehow reopen the well itself in an environmental spill they try to blame on the oil companies.

If they produce good affordable energy for the cost input fund a couple more. What I fear is that in NDP fashion they will write a 6 billion dollar cheque to someone, claim they fixed the oil well problem, and then watch in 2 years as they run away laughing that it is a worse fiasco than the fast ferries were, a few at a time is the route to go, eventually if the can catch up it could become the standard for capping wells.

It's an idea worth investigating, and I agree it would be nice if there can be a conversion to a beneficial energy source but there is a long long ways to go before it's knows that these conversions will work "WELL" enough. Hopefully the small pilot project can prove the concept.

[The Green Barbarian]

There is no such thing as "green, free energy", only energy that is considered "green" that forces taxpayers to take it right up the hoop, and the poor to suffer. Geothermal is some of the most expensive power out there when you factor in capital costs, which of course, the eco-lunatics won't tell you.

[Veovis]

There is no such thing as "green, free energy", only energy that is considered "green" that forces taxpayers to take it right up the hoop, and the poor to suffer. Geothermal is some of the most expensive power out there when you factor in capital costs, which of course, the eco-lunatics won't tell you.

The evaluation will matter if it can be converted into affordable due to the existing holes being there already. THe catch will be if it can be actually converted for benefit (worth a quick look) or if Alberta is about to get a bill far bigger than Site C and no power in return. New energy source or fast ferries.

Sadly my faith is more on fast ferries a large contract and after the next election a number of staff and MLA's seem to get contract work for the company they give the contract to.

[maryjane48]

Well the way the previous govt had it set up the taxpayers on the hook so this could aleviate some that

[Veovis]

Well the way the previous govt had it set up the taxpayers on the hook so this could aleviate some that

How this development will be certainly government funding required. IF it can be made into a resource, great, if not it needs to be left alone. Would be cool if a better use than just capping the well but if it isn't feasible then the current method should stay until a better method is created. This still needs proof of concept.

[maryjane48]

Leaving alone puts taxpayers on the hook . What should happen is companies clean up the mess

[Veovis]

Leaving alone puts taxpayers on the hook . What should happen is companies clean up the mess

and if this project costs the taxpayers 3 times more it was better to keep it the way it was.

[hobbyguy]

The way that Alberta has dealt with abandoned wells has been a problem for decades. The reading I did on the subject was that it was cheaper for an oil company to pay a nominal fee for annual licensing as an "active" well and pay the leasing fees to private landowners than it was to properly seal the well and restore the site.

Because those costs never were covered by the "fund" the industry puts up, and because there was no trust fund system to cover the costs, oil companies simply left private landowners stuck with abandoned wells/sites on their properties. Then when the oil company went bankrupt, the taxpayer got stuck with the plugging, demolition, and clean up costs - which depending on the site could be substantial. There has also even been some chicanery with things like "wells" (actually abandoned sites) being "purchased" by "oil companies" that then went bankrupt.

http://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/alberta-posts-spike-in-orphan-well-count

"The system is broken,” said Daryl Bennett, director of Action Surface Rights and a partner in a company that represents landowners dealing with industry. “There’s not enough money in the system to clean up everything …"

"“This has been a problem they’ve known about since the late 1980s,” said Barry Robinson, a lawyer at Ecojustice in Calgary, referring to an earlier oil price rout."

The model that landowners and conservation groups were pushing is for oil companies to be required to contribute to a trust for each well (or group of wells) that would be sufficient to cover the remediation costs at the end of the estimated well life. That is a proven model. However, the Alberta PCs simply refused to really address the problem, and allowed the chicanery to continue.

This issue has even lead to a murder.

" The destinies of Roberts and Kent converged in December 1995, when KB Resources bought two suspended wells and an old gas plant from Kent's former employer, Amerada Hess. One of the wells was located just east of Roberts's barn. The transaction highlighted a major trend in the industry.
For years now, large companies have unloaded their old or "dog" wells onto smaller firms. That way they avoid the expense of tidying up well sites, while the smaller firms get an opportunity to exploit what the multinationals, with their elephant-like vision, have missed-about 20 % of the province's oil and gas production. Some companies, such as Calgary's Rio Alto Exploration, have made big bucks on the leftovers of big players. More than 17,000 wells change hands this way every year in Alberta.
In 1993, Amerada Hess suspended a "dog" well on Roberts's property, assuring the landowner that it would be abandoned. As a consequence, Roberts declined to raise the rent on the site (he was then receiving $ 1,353 a year) and even dug up ground around the wellhead with the company's permission in order to establish how best to reclaim the land.
In the process, he found an illegal valve that made it impossible to properly test pressure at the well. No one ever explained how it got there -- or how many other wells might contain illegal valves. Roberts also noticed a lot of gas bubbling up from around the well and suspected some kind of leak.

When Amerada Hess abruptly resold the well, Roberts immediately expressed concerns about subsurface contamination to Kent. The hands-on executive came out and inspected the site and said the illegal valve shouldn't have been there, noting that Amerada Hess hadn't told him anything about contamination.
Roberts also called up the local branch of the provincial regulator, the EUB, in Red Deer. It receives more complaints from landowners than the board's seven other offices. Joe Gormley, an EUB inspector, checked out the well and ordered some tests. That action delayed the well transfer to KB for a few months-but the EUB ultimately concluded that the leak was "non-serious."
Gormley later testified that Roberts "didn't have a whole lot of trust in oil companies" and felt large interests shouldn't be allowed to sell off uneconomic properties to small ones. "He was concerned that KB would not have the financial resources to look after reclamation," the EUB official testified.
Roberts's concerns weren't unusual or far-fetched in rural Alberta. Cleanups of polluted land and water can take years, cost small fortunes, require court orders and breed a lot of stress. Wayne and Ila Johnston, for example, are ranchers who live 15 km from the Roberts' ranch. They fought Shell for six years to get compensation for all the damage a documented sour-gas leak caused their cattle herd. Alberta has scores of cases like this-and one Edmonton lawyer alone has launched 14 toxic torts against the industry. "

So while this "green plan" might be just wishful thinking, at least someone is trying to deal with an issue that exposes the seedy underside of the oil industry in Alberta.

[fluffy]

So while this "green plan" might be just wishful thinking, at least someone is trying to deal with an issue that exposes the seedy underside of the oil industry in Alberta.

So even if this prospect doesn't prove to be profitable, it runs a chance of being less expensive than a full-fledged clean-up, which would be a better bottom line for Joe taxpayer.

I have to laugh at people who insist that the new NDP government is not being "business friendly". Look at the mess a few decades of "business friendly" has left behind. The so-called "Alberta Advantage" was put in place to attract business with the understanding that jobs and tax revenue would flow back in the form of a better standard of life for Albertans, and it worked just fine for the better part of forty years. Now that the private sector has back-pedaled on there end of the bargain is it wise to keep throwing money at them? The cry from the energy sector (and displaced conservatives) that these tough times require yet deeper concessions from government might be more business than actual fact. The well clean-up is just another example that to big oil environmental responsibility is only a consideration when it's cost effective, either dollar wise or in public image.

[hobbyguy]

I certainly wouldn't want to be a rancher or farmer stuck with one of these orphan well sites. Years of lawsuits and grief to benefit the oil companies, the likes of Shell who sold dead wells to phony "juniors" who then go bankrupt, and leave the taxpayer and the rancher stuck with the bills.

[maryjane48]

At the rste they are going , it wo t matter which party has power un til the oil industry is made to clean the mess left behind