Teresa Patry is feeling gaslit by Alberta’s oil and gas regulator — and she’s not the only one.
The Vermilion, Alta., farmer and rancher has two active oil wells operating on her land, which, according to an independent air quality assessment, are venting a steady stream of methane and potentially dangerous chemicals downwind from where she lives with her family and livestock.
Patry can smell the fumes from her home, and she believes they are negatively impacting her health and that of her family and animals. But every time she calls the province’s energy regulator, she says they tell her everything is operating as it should be.
“Our home isn’t an industrial site, but it’s sort of been turned into one,” she told What On Earth host Laura Lynch.
“The whole family was trusting,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of other landowners that were trusting that we had these really good regulators, and that’s just not the case at all.”
Not anymore at least. Although I sympathise, I wonder if this is a “Leopards ate my face” situation.
Back in the day when provincial data was actually posted online (20 or so years ago), I read that Alberta’s take from oil producers was $1 per barrel … and it had been that way for decades. Alberta’s leadership has always seemed like it never wanted to bite the hand that fed it, and not only did that stick for the politicians, it also became the mantra for Albertans themselves.
It always astounds me to discover how cheap it is to buy governments.
They believed what they heard from their oil masters. So pretty much lol
I sympathize too, but these conditions have persisted for decades. People have sounded the alarm for decades.
Landowners get attention from legacy media, but it took a doctor who had to risk everything to sound the alarm for the people of Fort Chipewyan and beyond. Dr O’Connor faced complaints from his own College and defended himself. He must have felt like an island at that point.
In 2006, Dr. John O’Connor started raising concerns about disproportionately high rates of cancer in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., believing that nearby oilsands sites may have played a role.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-whistleblower-fort-chipewyan-john-o-connor-1.5943389
Back in 2006 there was less Internet, and people who said the government was in bed with corporations were a little more fringe than today. Older farmers still do business with a handshake. A little bit leopard, and a lot of sheep’s clothing. I have no doubts that the oil man was all promises on total cleanup and zero impact to the family.
I’m so tired of governments treating oil and gas companies like their golden child who can do no wrong. Hold these companies accountable for their pollution!! They can afford it.
Make them pay upfront for the cleanup. Anything not needed they can get back.
