Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Not only is funding for yesterdays announcement in fact coming from the federal government, BC’s NDP government has suspended the industry levy paid for clean-up of orphan oil and gas wells



Yesterday, the BC government -- through Bruce Ralston’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources -- laid claim to support of unemployed BC gas and oil workers, in new programs to clean-up orphan wells.

The Province stated they are supporting jobs for B.C. workers in oil and gas service companies to clean up the environment and help restart the economy.

“With the support of the federal government, B.C. is taking action to accelerate the restoration of more than 2,000 orphan and inactive wells,” said Premier John Horgan. “This program will support upwards of 1,200 jobs, helping B.C. workers, the environment and our economy during these challenging times.”

The only thing is, the BC government is not putting one penny in to this program; they are simply allocating where funding from the federal government is going to be allocated.

In fact, the entire $120 million dollars is coming from monies the federal government announced on April 17th.

Now don’t get me wrong; I am happy to see work being planned to have many of these orphan wells cleaned up – in fact it is long overdue. The funding -- 100% coming as I noted from the federal government (other than monies from the BC Oil and Gas Commission as noted below) -- will be allocated to three different programs:

The Dormant Sites Reclamation Program ... will provide $100 million to reclaim dormant oil and gas sites, which are wells that have been inactive for five consecutive years and are unlikely to be returned to service.

The Orphan Sites Supplemental Reclamation Program ... will provide $15 million to reclaim orphan oil and gas sites where the operator is insolvent, no longer exists or cannot be located. This program will be administrated by the BC Oil and Gas Commission (BCOGC) and will be in addition to $27 million in planned BCOGC clean up of such wells for 2020-21 (NOTE ... the cost of operating the Commission is funded through the application of industry fees and levies).

The Legacy Sites Reclamation Program ... will provide $5 million to address the legacy impacts of historical oil and gas activities that continue to have environmental impacts, such as on wildlife habitat or on the traditional use by Indigenous peoples.

 

“Through these three programs, we are accelerating the cleanup of thousands of orphan and inactive wells,” said Bruce Ralston, who then went on to say:

“This allows us to restore lands of important environmental and cultural relevance, while also supporting local jobs and local economies in BC’s northeast.”

 

BUT ... what about a story from May 7th in the Narwhal? In it, writer Sarah Cox let it be known that:

... the B.C. government has given oil and gas companies a reprieve from making their annual contributions — worth more than $11 million this year — to a fund for cleaning up orphan wells that could pose a threat to the environment. 

 

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission posted the notice on its website on April 16 — the day before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government will shell out $1.7 billion to clean up orphan and inactive oil and gas wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC ...

 

The story does go on to say that the levy for clean-up costs is being suspended temporarily, understandably however, it also asks:

“Will the BC government, in the future, increase the amount of money that needs to be paid into that levy from oil and gas companies? Or will it be the BC government, or inevitably the federal government, that’s going to pay for that? When it’s government paying … it’s taxpayers who pay.” 

 

SO ... not only is funding in yesterdays announcement coming from the federal government (taxpayers’ monies in other words), BC’s NDP government of Premier John Horgan has suspended monies which the oil and gas industry should currently be contributing to clean-up.

In the final analysis, yesterday’s announcement of new programs to support jobs, and clean up the environment, is in actual fact good news ... it’s just that the BC government is really only dispersing monies being provided too them.

 

Bottom line?  Mr. Ralston and Mr. Horgan ... don’t take credit for something you aren’t responsible for.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FORSETH -- Given the noted infractions of this agreement with OneBC leader Dallas Brodie, I request the Party immediate suspend the leadership campaign of Yuri Fulmer

I have personally emailed the following to the Board and Administration of the Conservative Party of BC:   TODAY (03/30) Yuri Fulmer, a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of BC, made a pact with ONEBC leader Dallas Broldie, that if he is elected will commit the Conservative Party to the following. Specifically, the pact states : This Memorandum of Understanding outlines the definitive electoral and governing alliance that will be executed upon Yuri Fulmer’s election as Leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia OneBC Party commits to not nominating or authorizing candidates in 88 of British Columbia’s 93 electoral districts. In exchange, the Conservative Party of BC, under the leadership of Yuri Fulmer, commits to not nominating or authorizing candidates in five (5) specific electoral districts . OneBC will be the sole standard-bearer for the right in those five districts. The specific ridings will be determined through mutual negotiation and fin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delays to the replacement of the Red Bridge? Kamloops North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer says they are, “Totally Unacceptable.”

I think it’s totally unacceptable that on one hand the Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) is saying they’re going to be responsible for putting together multiple replacement options with public engagement, and then in the same breath they're saying, ‘Oh, and by the way, we're going to start our geotechnical environmental and archaeological site assessments on both sides of the river, possibly beginning this summer.’ According to Stamer, that should already have been done. “Obviously, we're pretty sure it will be in the same location because there's really no other place to put it. So, if you're going to put in a bridge, you think that at least you'd be doing the archaeological assessments first off”, stated Stamer.   “If it's determined it has to be a free-span bridge, and it can't have anything or very minimal impact in the riverbed, they should already be determining that. It would help in the design, wouldn't it?” Stamer indicated...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your government has a gambling problem (Troy Media)

Provinces call it “revenue,” but it looks a lot like exploitation of the marginalized The odds of winning Lotto Max are about 1 in 33 million. You’re statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than to win it. But your government is betting that statistics won’t hold you back; they’re counting on it. Across Canada, provincial governments not only regulate gambling, they also maintain a monopoly on lottery and gaming by owning and operating the entire legal market. That means every scratch card is government-issued, gambling odds are government-set, casino ads are government-funded and lottery billboards are government-paid. And these are not incidental government activities. They generate significant revenues that governments have powerful incentives to expand, not constrain. It would be one thing for our governments to encourage us to engage in healthy activities. We can quibble about whether the government should be trying to convince us to be more active or eat more vegetabl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more