The witnesses made statements and answered questions.

At 11:34 a.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 11:35 a.m., the meeting resumed.

Questioning of the witnesses resumed.

At 12:24 p.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 12:27 p.m., the meeting resumed.

Julie Dabrusin moved, —

That the committee resume consideration of her motion moved on Monday, October 7, 2024, which read as follows:

Given that:

• There are 1,600 abandoned and orphaned oil wells in Alberta polluting farmland, waterways, and air;

• The number of abandoned wells in Alberta are set to increase by an additional 1,800 to 2,000;

• These additional abandoned wells will cost more than $200 million to clean up;

• The Government of Alberta sent back $137 million because they failed to use the funds provided by the Government of Canada to clean up abandoned wells and create jobs in the pandemic;

• The Government of Saskatchewan used their allocated funds in their entirety to clean abandoned wells and create jobs;

• Companies who abandon wells and fail to pay for their cleanup negatively impact provincial taxpayers and municipalities;

• Orphaned and abandoned wells present an economic opportunity to support energy solutions like geothermal energy.

The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Charlie Angus, Julie Dabrusin, Majid Jowhari, Viviane Lapointe, Peter Schiefke, Brenda Shanahan, Mario Simard — 7;

NAYS: Earl Dreeshen, Ted Falk, Jeremy Patzer, Shannon Stubbs — 4.

The committee resumed consideration of the motion of Julie Dabrusin moved on Monday, October 7, 2024, which read as follows:

Given that:

• There are 1,600 abandoned and orphaned oil wells in Alberta polluting farmland, waterways, and air;

• The number of abandoned wells in Alberta are set to increase by an additional 1,800 to 2,000; • These additional abandoned wells will cost more than $200 million to clean up;

• The Government of Alberta sent back $137 million because they failed to use the funds provided by the Government of Canada to clean up abandoned wells and create jobs in the pandemic;

• The Government of Saskatchewan used their allocated funds in their entirety to clean abandoned wells and create jobs;

• Companies who abandon wells and fail to pay for their cleanup negatively impact provincial taxpayers and municipalities;

• Orphaned and abandoned wells present an economic opportunity to support energy solutions like geothermal energy.

The debate continued.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

Given that:

• There are 1,600 abandoned and orphaned oil wells in Alberta polluting farmland, waterways, and air;

• The number of abandoned wells in Alberta are set to increase by an additional 1,800 to 2,000;

• These additional abandoned wells will cost more than $200 million to clean up;

• The Government of Alberta sent back $137 million because they failed to use the funds provided by the Government of Canada to clean up abandoned wells and create jobs in the pandemic;

• The Government of Saskatchewan used their allocated funds in their entirety to clean abandoned wells and create jobs;

• Companies who abandon wells and fail to pay for their cleanup negatively impact provincial taxpayers and municipalities;

• Orphaned and abandoned wells present an economic opportunity to support energy solutions like geothermal energy.

The Standing Committee on Natural Resources begin a five-meeting study on the impact of this failure to clean these wells, the impacts of the pollution from not cleaning up abandoned and orphaned wells, the costs of cleaning up abandoned and orphaned wells, the federal regulations to hold companies to account for well cleanup, and the potential opportunities associated with cleaning up abandoned wells, and report its findings to the House of Commons.

The debate continued.