In a case of once bitten, twice shy, a re-elected UCP government would enact policies to make companies pay cleanup costs for abandoned renewable energy infrastructure to avoid a repeat of the so-called ‘orphan well’ crisis..Speaking at a media availability near Okotoks, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, MLA Devin Dreeshen said landowners want policies to ensure taxpayers aren’t left on the hook for abandonment liabilities due to stranded renewable energy infrastructure like windmills and solar panels..“That is a big issue,” he said. “There is a concern that you’re going to have an ‘orphan well 2.0’.”. UCP candidatesUCP candidates RJ Sigurdson (L), Chantelle de Jonge (C) and Deven Deeshen. .In January, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) passed a resolution calling on the provincial government to protect taxpayers and land owners from liabilities associated with decommissioning so-called ‘clean energy’ projects..As with oil wells, the concern is if companies go bankrupt and are unable to pay the costs. Ultimately it becomes the responsibility of the taxpayer — or landowners themselves — to bear the brunt..If the experience with oil and gas wells is any indicator, it has the potential to be substantial. Of the roughly million or so wells drilled in the province since 1947, about 300,000 are considered abandoned and another 170,000 unreclaimed. Estimates to clean them all up range from $40-70 billion, not including associated pipelines and pumping stations..The joke in industry circles is that the best way to avoid cleanup costs is to declare bankruptcy..In January 2022, the federal government committed $1.7 billion to help clean them. The UCP government in February proposed $100 million in royalty credits to companies that clean up wells more than 20 years old, a policy which has come under fire from the NDP as ‘corporate welfare’..Renewable energy infrastructure could prove to be an even bigger headache. .A CBS News report last week suggested 90% of solar panels eventually wind up in landfills, generating at least 70 million pounds of potentially toxic waste annually. Windmills are even worse; the wind industry is expected to create an estimated 47 million tons of waste blades per year by 2050 in the US alone..Those are the ones the actually get recycled. The bigger question is who pays for the ones that don’t?.Dreeshen, who was formerly minister of agriculture and forestry, insists it won’t be taxpayers or land owners under a proposed bonding or insurance system that has yet to be worked out. He added the government agrees with the RMA on the issue..“So what we don’t want is to have these sites stranded for decades,” he said. “Yes, we can attract these investments and at the end of the day have these environmental liabilities baked in so we can have these kinds of investments.”
