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“The claim that Alberta’s oil and gas is the most ethically produced oil because of the environmentally and socially responsible way in which it’s produced is true only to an extent, and where it’s not true and where the government and industry need to up their game is in dealing with the legacy wells,” said Keith Wilson, a St. Albert, Alta.-based lawyer who represents landowners in fights with energy companies.

Photo by Codie McLachlan/Postmedia files

Wilson said farmers and ranchers have historically counted themselves among the energy industry’s biggest supporters and they routinely sign lease agreements that allow companies to access their land. But the relationship has soured as Alberta’s economy has tanked and landowners encounter problems with both collecting rental payments and getting companies to clean up old contaminated sites.

Geriatric orphan wells such as Von Hammerstein’s are a particular sore spot for farmers, because older wells are more likely to contaminate the ground, are more difficult to clean up and take more time to remediate since they were drilled in an age when environmental standards were more lax.

Wilson, who has fought in court to force delinquent companies into cleaning up geriatric wells, said older wells are also more likely to be plagued with rusted out down-hole equipment and he frequently sees wells with cracked cement linings, leading to an increased likelihood that contaminants will flow into the earth.

Photo by Jason Franson for Postmedia

Moreover, he said, most oil and gas companies prior to the 1990s used pits, dug right next to a well, rather than tanks, to store the fluids and mud used in drilling the well and production. Those pits, he said, dramatically complicate the remediation efforts of older wells because freezing and thawing every winter and spring sends the contaminants deeper into the ground, further spreading any contamination.