Oil field stigma

[Horse]

Emerald you were the one that brought up the glass 1/2 full so what you put in it is your business.
You still didnt address the fact that most of what we have was here before the big oil money and to hear you tell it it will all be gone without the oil to suport it I think that is very narrow minded if we were not paying this high wage we could have a lot of things but labour is causing the prices to rise.
Yes Bill and Bill liked to give Ken Kowalski hell and rightly so as he was very high in the gov that almost gave the country away, but we got the paddle dam but down south they got the three rivers dam at a hell of a lot more cost and who knows what all.
A lot of the things you mention are in the town of barrhead still dont see where that is of great benifit to the farmers my local roads are poorer now than before the oil activity came albeit in small form , our roads were built by piling bush down the middle of the road and then building up over top with dirt and they have worked for 40yr or more until you start hauling B.Trains over them dayly they just wont stand that heavy trafic and guess who will get to pay for rebuilding at probably 100,000/mi sure the gov throws in some money but they took some money from our pockets also.

[Horse]

As I said horse, you and I look at things differently.

If your county isn't maintaining the road to the same standard it did before you had oil activity, why aren't you calling your councillor, or the public works supervisor and asking why ???

You mentioned a grazing lease, then recently you mentioned oil revenue and negotiating leases, so I don't really think the oil money has totally passed you by !!!

I guess we could go back to the days of corduroy roads, and using a fresno to build them, but I for one, don't really want to regress.

I can remember what the roads were like coming from Swan Hills home in the 1960's, and they are one hell of a lot better up in the Fort Assiniboine/Barrhead area now, so something must be progressing !!!

[cowman]

I think that type of road building was fairly standard in much of the province, Horse? In the spring the willows still out in places around here!
Those roads were built for horses and wagons or maybe Model As, but have a hard time with B-trains, heavy rigs and manure trucks!
Actually some of these lighter coalbed rigs can move even when the road bans are on!
We have a lot of oil field activity in my area. The people destroying the roads
are seldom the rigs but silage trucks and heavy hog manure trucks/wagons! The oil companies post a bond...not so the feedlot or hog barn! When the rig is moving they have a private grader out...when the silage trucks are rolling the county grader is out...guess on who's dime?
Not real sure about this but I believe the money the county gets from the oil activity pays more than the total maitenance budget for operations in the county!

[cowman]

In this county any damage done by industry is paid for by industry, this includes gravel and grader time. Not only that, but if there is any kind of industry haul that creates excess dust they are required to have a water truck available.
I would suggest that most counties have these requirements, if Barrhead County doesn't then perhaps the county taxpayers should demand that they do.

[Horse]

Yes I have a 2 oil leases on owned land I dont have any crown leases BUT you still didnt answer the question would we not have these things if we didnt have oil revenue, as for maintaining the roads sure they grade the top but it is the road bed that gets pushed out into the ditch thats where the damage is done.

[Horse]

horse, doesn't your county pull shoulders on roads that get pounded out ?

As for having all the things we do without the oil revenue, I guess you would need to ask businessmen in your community, Whitecourt, Mayerthorpe, and many other places. Are they selling more vehicles, are hotels and motels and retaurants doing a larger volume of business, are people buying houses etc.

If you can't see any benefit to Albertans from the resources we have, then certainly you have your right to that opinion.

You may feel that your local hospital hasn't been enhanced by provincial dollars but you cannot deny that we have state of the art hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary, as well as cancer clinics that are as good as any. These things were made possible by huge injections of provincial money....maybe it came from farmland assessment, but I doubt it. I know that the $1200 I pay on my home quarter is about what it costs to maintain the road along it for one year.

[cowman]

Well Horse, we might have them, oil revenue or not? I don't know. Do other provinces...I assume they do?
Personally I would like to see all oil and gas revenue go to the people of Alberta and let taxation take care of the roads, hospitals, schools etc.? I mean it is our oil and gas, not the beurocrats?

[cowman]

It could be done cowman, if the government could say NO to frills eg: huge sports complexes in every whistle stop in the province.
The funding that the province injects into these would go a long way toward education, roads, health care etc., but because people want the soft services some of the cost must come from the taxpayer.

[Horse]

Emerald you have got to be a spin dr for someone, I never said that albertians dont benifit I said the farmers dont benefit and yes they pull some sholders and make a hell of a mess for the yr it is done and no the companys wrecking the roads dont pay for that they grade and mabey sprinkle a little gravel and that is it.
I still say we will be here after the oil is gone and somehow we will have services.

[Horse]

horse this may come as a surprise to you but farmers are ALBERTANS too !!! We all receive some benefit from the oil industry whether or not we want to admit it.
You have your mind made up, and I think differently. I have never been accused of being a spin doctor horse, I just try and be fair and give credit where its due, and speak out against things I feel are wrong.

Of course your road will be rough for the year after the shoulders are pulled but it usually packs down and is a fairly stable road after time.