Reading Time: 5 minutes “Kochia six feet tall and completely covering the whole leases. We have many that look like this. When I phone, no one even answers the phones.” This tweet from Lethbridge-area farmer Kevin Serfas in August likely could have been written by any one of hundreds of Alberta producers with abandoned well sites on their farms. […] Read more
Farmers lose — and weeds win — when energy companies walk away
When well sites are abandoned, the rent cheques often stop while the noxious weeds flourish
Some landowners wrongly billed for power
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Farmers’ Advocate Office (FAO) is warning landowners to watch their electricity bills if they have surface leases with insolvent companies. EPCOR has collected payment from landowners for providing three-phase electric power to a surface lease after an oil and gas company became insolvent. The company relied on a clause in its service agreement where […] Read more
Landowners’ rights and exploration
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Farmers’ Advocate Office has updated one of its key publications to help landowners understand their rights relating to geophysical exploration. Geophysical Exploration and Landowners’ Rights answers the five most common questions about geophysical exploration, including whether landowners can refuse permission for exploration on their land. (They can.) It also explains the notification process and […] Read more
Oil lease defaults hit new record
Landowner compensation claims more than doubled last year and have already doubled again this year
Reading Time: 3 minutes For the second year in a row, the number of claims against oil companies defaulting on rental agreements has smashed records. Under Section 36 of the Surface Rights Act, landowners can apply for compensation from the provincial government if an oil company hasn’t paid their surface rental lease. From 2003 to 2014, the board has […] Read more
Oil companies bucking their commitments
Farmers are struggling to get oil companies to pay their leases and complete reclamation work on abandoned wells
Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s a wet spot originating from an oil well in Anthony Bruder’s pasture that his cows won’t drink from. “I’ve seen cows walk up to it, sniff it, and then walk a half-mile to the other end of the field to drink from the lake,” said Bruder, who farms near Twin Butte. “If the cows […] Read more
Oilpatch slowdown steers couple back to farming
Kelly Hansen thought he had put farming behind him, but he and wife Jocelyn have been drawn back to the land
Reading Time: 2 minutes While many are suffering because of the downturn in the oilpatch, the Hansen family is using the slowdown as an opportunity to get into farming. Kelly Hansen grew up on a farm near Dapp, but left when he was 16 and was happy to put farming behind him. “But as things changed, I wanted to […] Read more
Oil bust could mean skyrocketing property taxes
Some Alberta municipalities are being hit hard as oil companies stop paying
Reading Time: 2 minutes With oil prices bottoming out around $30 a barrel, oil companies are scrambling to save money — sometimes at the expense of farmers. “Some companies are just deciding not to pay the annual rentals,” said Daryl Bennett, who represents the Action Surface Rights Association in southern Alberta. Last year, the Surface Rights Board had more […] Read more
Schoepp: What’s a more important sector: oil or agriculture?
Take a comprehensive look at the facts and the answer is obvious
Reading Time: 4 minutes As we drove through the blueberry fields and cranberry bogs in southern B.C., I thought of economic generators. What, I wondered, was a bigger sustainable economic generator to our nation: oil or agriculture? An environmental scan of an industry must include the long-term effects on people and the planet. The structures that we employ for […] Read more