CADOGAN, Alta. (Staff) – Some seismic companies want access to crown land without farmers’ permission and without paying farmers compensation, according to an assistant to the Farmers’ Advocate.
And their office thinks if companies are granted access to crown land, it won’t be long before they don’t need permission to cross private land, said Paul Vasseur.
“It’s just one more step to get access to private land,” Vasseur told a group of farmers at a surface rights meeting.
The fight started last fall when an energy industry report recommended seismic companies have the ability to cross crown land without the leaseholders’ permission. Because it’s crown land they don’t feel compensation to the leaseholder is necessary, said Vasseur.
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There are about five million acres of lease land out of about 200 million acres of deeded land in Alberta. While there may be a few farmers who won’t allow access to crown land except on road allowances, Vasseur thinks it’s not worth the havoc it might create by not getting leaseholder permission.
“The problem is not as great as what the industry seems to think it is,” he said.
The Office of the Farmers’ Advocate is an independent government body.
