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Norfolk officials laud new abandoned gas wells program
Local efforts to get the provincial government to address abandoned gas wells have paid off.
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Graydon Smith, Ontario’s Minister of Natural Resources, on Friday announced a $23.6 million program to identify and plug old gas wells. The funding will be used to develop an action plan to address and better understand the risks associated with old oil and gas wells.
The funding includes $7.5 million for eligible communities to reduce risks, increase emergency preparedness and a doubling of funding for the existing Abandoned Works program.
Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady said she is “encouraged” by the announcement.
Norfolk County Mayor Amy Martin said, in statement, that she is “looking forward to the positive outcomes” the province’s announcement will enable.
Martin said she has advocated for provincial government action for more than five years, first as a member of council and now as mayor. She recently discussed the urgent state of Norfolk’s gas wells during a recent deputation in Ottawa about climate change.
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Martin said Norfolk has successfully used the province’s Abandoned Works Program to plug the gas well on Forestry Farm Road, which remains a work in progress.
Brady, meanwhile, raised the issue in the Ontario Legislature in March when she asked about the government’s strategy to deal with abandoned wells.
“In Norfolk County alone there are 2,634 dormant wells — one of which has been in the news for years,” Brady said in the Legislature. “The county lacks the expertise to remedy the well and little help is available to monitor the situation.”
Noting that the federal government gave Alberta funds to deal with abandoned wells, Brady called on the Ontario government to intensify efforts for federal help.
Brady also highlighted a McGill University study that concluded methane gas leaking from abandoned wells has been underestimated and has the potential for a “powder keg” situation like the one in Wheatley.
An explosion in Wheatley in August 2021 destroyed two buildings and sent seven people to hospital.
“This is a serious problem and one beyond the means of landowners, or even the municipalities means to deal with,” said in her June 2 statement following the provincial announcement.
Brady said she fully supports licensed, still-operating gas wells used by farmers in Haldimand and Norfolk.
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