By Janetta McKenzie, Pembina Institute

Alberta taxpayers, municipalities, and rural landowners are facing increasing costs and harms from inactive and orphaned oil and gas wells, Calgarians heard at a town hall Tuesday evening.

Co-hosted by the Pembina Institute, Alberta Environmental Network, For Our Kids and the Polluter Pay Federation, the Clean Up Your Mess town hall included expert presentations and first-hand landowner experiences of the growing oil and gas cleanup problem.

On April 9th, 2026, more than 4,000 wells and hundreds of other pieces of infrastructure were transferred to the Orphan Well Association following the closure of Long Run Exploration. This is the largest transfer to the OWA in Alberta’s history, doubling the association’s inventory overnight. Despite a 100 per cent increase in orphan wells, the levy paid by industry is rising by only seven per cent this year.

Continue reading Alberta’s oil and gas cleanup problem is growing →