BANFF, Alta. – Controlling weeds at oil well sites prevents fire hazards and keeps the neighbours happy.
However, Edmonton consultant Atty Bressler says energy companies don’t do a consistent job of controlling weeds.
“They all have variable levels of management practices associated with them,” said Bressler, whose company advises the oil and gas industry about weed control.
“Some are very good in controlling their weed population and some have not so high a concern regarding the weed population and keeping it down.
She told a North American weed conference held in Banff May 28-30 that more traffic to these sites increases the possibility of spreading weeds from one site to the next. Weeds from pipelines, storage battery sites, reclaimed patches and well sites can easily spread onto native pastures, cropland and wilderness areas.
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She said the workers who build the sites may know nothing about weeds, but most companies want them controlled because dry weeds are a fire hazard. As well, enforcement agencies may make weed control a condition for a well licence.
Energy companies are responsible for weed control, Bressler said, but may do nothing until it becomes a problem and the municipality issues a weed notice to clean up the site or face a removal bill.
“We have to make sure that we know what the consequences are when we do not take care of our site.”
Bressler’s colleague, Kim Mackenzie, said many companies use private contractors to manage weeds and some applicators are better than others.
There have been cases of fraud in which invoices were submitted but no work was done, allowing weeds to run rampant.
Companies need to figure in weed control when developing a site, Mackenzie added, which is where weed management consultants are useful.
Penn-West Energy Trust, one of Bressler and Mackenzie’s clients, has formed an active weed control plan to identify and control problems in four provinces where it is drilling.
“Penn-West did not get one weed notice,” said Mackenzie, who maintains weed inventories for clients on all their sites.
Her company also collects information on the herbicides that were used and their effectiveness, tracks evidence of herbicide resistance, measures the performance of subcontracted applicators and surveys the surrounding environment to know whether it is organic, pasture or cultivated land.
“Weed management is data management,” Mackenzie said.
“We have to know what we are dealing with before we can control it.”
