B.C. Premier John Horgan and Provincial Energy Minister Bruce Ralston announced the Provincial State of Emergency has been extended until May 27.
Horgan says the declaration will continue to be renewed for the ‘foreseeable’ future’ as part of B.C.’s Covid-19 response.
1,200 jobs will also be created in the province as part of a new plan to decommission, reclaim, or restore 2,000+ orphaned or failed oil and gas wells.
This is following the Federal Government’s commitment of $120 million to clean up oil and gas sites earlier in April.
Approximately 357 of about 25,000 oil and gas well sites in the province are considered orphaned.
Additionally, 7,685 of those are considered dormant.
The project will be divided into three programs:
The Dormant Sites Reclamation Program will provide $100 million, or half of total costs, to reclaim dormant oil and gas sites: wells that have been inactive for five consecutive years.
The Legacy Sites Reclamation Program will provide $5 million to address the legacy impacts of historical oil and gas activities that continue to have environmental impacts.
The Orphan Sites Supplemental Reclamation Program will provide $15 million to reclaim orphan oil and gas sites where the operator is insolvent, no longer exists, or cannot be located.
This program will be administrated by the BC Oil and Gas Commission (BCOGC) and will be in addition to $27 million in planned BCOGC clean up of such wells for 2020-21.
These initiatives will be open to oil and gas field service companies and contractors based in B.C.
“Through these three programs, we are accelerating the cleanup of thousands of orphan and inactive wells,” said Minister Ralston.
“This allows us to restore lands of important environmental and cultural relevance, while also supporting local jobs and local economies in B.C.’s northeast.”
Indigenous communities, local governments, and landowners will be able to nominate sites for priority consideration.
“Thanks to the co-operation between the governments of Canada and British Columbia, this program will mean a cleaner environment and much-needed jobs for workers in B.C.,” said, Federal Minister of Natural Resources, Seamus O’Regan.
Applications for the Dormant Sites Reclamation Program will be accepted beginning May 25.
With files from Catherine Garrett, MyPrinceGeorgeNow.com