Next on the Agenda???

[raymondb]

Cowman--what do you mean you will be left with the responsibility of cleaning this lease? Have you checked with the Dept. of Environment and with the EUB. I could be mistaken but my understanding of the regulations is that the oil or gas lease holder is still responsible for any environment detrements even after reclamation and sign offs.

[cakadu]

Cowman - I'd have to agree with raymond on this one. It would certainly be worth the phone call.

As far as the farm plan costing money, there are some improvements you can make that will be very minimal cost-wise but have a great benefit. I would hazard a guess that in many instances people will find that the changes are relatively simple and won't end up costing too much.

I understand what you are saying when it comes to the money part of it. There will be funds available for those that have a reviewed farm plan under the Ag Policy Framework. They are just finishing up the funding protocols on it now and it will be announced in the coming months.

Many of the legislated changes over the past few years have us to a certain level, the farm plan is intened to take us beyond the legislation. I really do see it as another tool to be able to let people know that we are doing what we can to make our food and our farms as safe as possible.

There are both short and long term benefits to the farm plan and maybe in these uncertain times, one can bring a little certainty and feel like they are doing something constructive.

[cowman]

This well was drilled in the late 50s. I don't even remember it being drilled. Apparently there was a major spill of oil and salt water(a gusher). The company went out of business a long time ago. My dad signed a release when they gave him some money. There was a super good artesian well on the lease for water that they capped off when they left. About five years ago another company wanted to drill on the same lease about 10 meters from the old hole. They claimed the oil lay on top of a salt water sea and the trick was precision depth to suck off the oil without getting it mixed with the salt water. I was all for it but unfortunately this company went belly up before they got it drilled. If they had drilled this well I might have gotten the lease reclaimed properly eventually. We're only talking about a one acre area or so.
Basically to be environmentally friendly I would have to relocate my corrals and calving barn. I have these super springs that bubble right out of the ground. Never freeze and run all year. There is a large dam that collects the water from the springs before it flows into a creek(and eventually into the Red Deer river). My cows always drank at the springs but the plan now is to fence them out. My well? at the one house is 11 feet deep and in reality is a spring. Soft and sweet! The well at my corrals is 50 feet deep and goes 50 gallons/min. One other well in another direction is 27 feet and they can't get a reading on it because they can't pump it fast enough to test!
So you see everything I have is built on top of a virtual underground river! The water witch claims it is 100 meters wide and 100 meters deep!
Now moving everything and rebuilding is just not an option. It just doesn't make economic sense for a cow/calf operation. Especially when I am getting to the age where I want to exit the industry.