After being involved with the oil business for most of his life, Dave Brown has a colourful way to describe the current activity in Alberta.
“We are so busy it is like watching a field of badgers. Head down, tail up and digging like hell. God help you if you tap one of them on the shoulder, because he’ll just growl at you,” said the Sundre area rancher.
He is a member of the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group, formed in 1995 to fight a gas plant proposed for Caroline in the west-central part of Alberta.
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Known as SPOG, it has grown to include landowners and about 30 companies in west-central Alberta where there are large sour gas fields. In addition to sharing information, a major focus of the organization is to develop performance measures outlining what a community expects of a company beyond compliance with the provincial oil and gas regulations.
That includes a telephone reporting system for bad odours so the public can alert companies of the need to check facilities. There are controls on rig movements during school bus hours. Dust control measures are set and routes to drilling sites are negotiated.
“It smooths out the bumps in the roads that we never had the options for before,” Brown said.
“In this area, through luck and demanding, we get more. And the fact we work on performance measures, people are feeling more comfortable with the drilling of sour gas.”
Brown estimates there are about 200 landowner groups and surface rights organizations across Alberta. Many are less than three years old.
“Because of lack of information and being confronted with organizations with a lot of dollars behind them and knowledgeable people behind them, landowners were put in a situation where it was an emotional thing and there was nowhere to turn,” he said.
About 80 groups have coalesced into a body called Synergy Alberta.
That group will meet Oct. 29-31 in Red Deer to discuss land use conflicts and reasonable measures to work with the oil industry.
“The purpose of Synergy Alberta is not to solve issues. We provide a tool kit for new groups to start,” said Brown, who sits on its newly created board of directors. Also on board are representatives from the community, oil and gas industry, government and the Métis. A First Nations representative has yet to be appointed.
Synergy Alberta is one avenue to help people learn the process and work together, said Jim Kiss, Farmers’ Advocate and a member of the new organization.
“There has always been some level of organization but there are some new groups and that is encouraging. We support the proactive nature of people to address their concerns and issues,” Kiss said.
Frustration and information overwhelm farmers and ranchers, who say they have neither the time nor resources to properly research a company and its plans for development, said Kiss.
