Thoughts to ponder?

[cowman]

Alberta farmers have benifitted in a big way from oil and gas exploration, but consider this?
When you get all these pipelines, lease sites etc.what has that done to your future ability to develope your land, whether into residential subdivision or agriculture related barns, water wells, dugouts etc.?
The boy recently found this out when he wanted to dig a large dugout. He found out the area he wanted to put it was too close to a pipeline! This quarter section has 5 pipelines crisscrossing it and three wells! So now he has to reconsider his plans as he intended to intensive graze this land.
Also, on this same quarter, he decided he should cap an old water well that had just been left open for years. Anyway he cut a piece of quarter inch plate in a five inch circle and intended to weld it in place. He took it up ,laid it on top of the pipe for a fit and left it there to go home and load up the dc welder. To make a long story short he never got back for a couple of days and when he touched the rod to the pipe the whole thing blew up! Singed his eyebrows pretty good and blew the cap about fifty feet in the air! It seems that old water well(240 feet deep) had filled up with gas!
Now I don't know where all the gas came from because it sure never had any in it when I was a kid? Maybe all these darned oil and gas wells are leaking into our aquifier? And the sad fact is oil and gas are fine but if you don't have any water you sure don't have much?

[15444]

In any area that has had significant resource exploration and development for a period of years, you will find numerous pipelines.
A friend of mine had a five acre parcel appraised on his property, thinking he might subdivide it as it was fractionated from the rest of his home quarter by a creek.
The realtor that did the appraisal also checked out the pipeline maps etc. There are seven pipelines crossing the property and there is literally no building site, let alone ample space for an onsite sewage system.
This is a fact of life in many areas of the province.
I hope your son contacted the EUB about the gas in the pipe.

[cakadu]

I hope your son recovers quickly cowman and am grateful that his injuries weren't too severe.

The truth of the matter is we don't (and won't) have much without water. We keep looking for more and more oil and gas that puts money into our coffers which is a good thing (I suppose), but what is the true cost of doing all that exploration?

We are now going into areas that we considered pristene and even though the natural resource companies are attempting to reclaim the areas after they are through - what is the toll all of this is taking on wildlife, biodiversity, habitat etc.

There is also another thing that I think about and that is leasing land to companies for drilling - whether it be oil or natural gas or this coalbed methane. Many producers and landowners are allowing companies on simply because it is a way to make some money when times are so desperate for some. Once the land is leased, it's pretty much out of your hands.

I wonder what we are doing to what are considered to be out most valuable assets - the land, the water, air and biodiversity - and where it will all end. Have we gone past the point of being able to at least minimize the impact and the footprint we are leaving behind?

[cowman]

Well the boy got the cap welded on after he got "blasted"...I think it was just a build up from being capped...but the question I ask is where did that gas come from? Has the old casing on this well rusted through somewhere and is it coalbed methane(fairly caustic) or has gas leaked into the aquifier? The only reason he was doing this in the first place was he is doing the "Environmental Farm Plan" thing. I laughed when he first decided to do it and said it was a complete joke...but now I'm not so sure? Darned kid has me thinking beyond my own life! I actually can see the wisdom in trying to find out just what in the hell we have been doing to our water,soil, air all these years!...because without those things being healthy, what do we have???
I have not been a happy camper with all this coalbed methane garbage going on! I ran them off on the home place but the weasels went over to my neighbor and drilled a well. I own the other three quarters on the section so have filed three letters of obstruction with he surface rights board and have told my lawyer to do whatever it takes to keep them out! His answer"You can bet your bottom dollar they are coming and all you can hope for is to make them pay dearly"! Well he is pretty slick but I have an ace in the hole that even he doesn't know about and we will see if these dogs get in here! Incidently I had a chance in the late seventies to buy this other quarter that my neighbor owns, but I considered the price to steep(and I was raising a young family and never had no money)...if only I had known?

[cakadu]

I'm pleased to hear that you are finding some good thought coming from the Environmental Farm Plan. That is precisely what it is meant to do - have one think about what it is they are doing on the farm. As you have probably found out, you are already doing many things right or environmentally friendly and you should be getting credit for those things.

Eventually, I would like to see producers/landowners getting paid for the ecological goods and services that they are providing for the majority.

As far as buying the other quarter goes, you had other priorities back then and rightly so with a young family.

Best of luck with your farm plan.

[cowman]

Linda: We have made a few fairly simple changes that were really "no-brainers" if you actually thought about them. Some of the biggies(not too many by the way) I'm having some problems with because it's going to cost some money! But I do see the wisdom and value of doing them...sort of? I struggle with some of this because I am such a darned Scotchman( I really shouldn't say that as it offends grassfarmer so much!)!!! But what the hell...you can only pack so many bucks in your coffin...right?

[cakadu]

Depending on what the changes are, under the new Canada/Alberta Farm Stewardship Program (CAFSP), those who have a peer reviewed environmental farm plan can apply for funding to help with some 26 different Beneficial Management Practices. The funding is either 30% or 50% depending on what it is that is going to be done.

Properly decomisssioning abandoned water wells is one of the BMP's that are eligible for CAFSP money. Relocation of Livestock confinement facilities, improved manure storage and handling and farmyard runoff control are some of the others. There is up to $30,000 available and it can be used on a variety of projects. For more information on the program, you can call 1-800-667-8567.

Some of the changes on the farm are relatively simple, easy and not very costly, as you have found out. Basically what the farm plan does is help you to assess the risk potential on your farm. The farm plan is meant to be a living document that is periodically reviewed.

The beauty of it is the producer decides what the priority areas are and sets up his/her own timetable for completion. It's not a report card nor is it meant to be a comparison between what you and your neighbor or the guy in High Level are doing.

I would encourage everyone to have a look at it and complete one.

[cowman]

I believe you need to get approval for any plan before you can do any work? And in typical government fashion they want to get their nose in it and set the standards!
Better to just bite the bullet and do what you have to do!
When the boy was considering putting in the dugout he contacted the PFRA. All the hoops he would have to jump through would have made it totally a joke, so he decided if he wanted to get it done before he was 100 years old he'd have to pay the bill! Personally I believe most of these government setups are nothing more than make work agencies for all the little robots coming out of the universities.