Another county in Alberta is short millions in revenue after an oil company with sites in the area went belly up.
Big Lakes County in northwestern Alberta is facing an outstanding $9.3 million in its budget after Razor Energy Corp declared itself insolvent earlier this year. The company paid only $2 million of the around $11.3 million it owed before going bankrupt. Big Lakes County now has no other legal way to reclaim these funds, the CBC reports.
Counties across Alberta are facing budget shortages as oil and gas companies shirk their responsibility to pay taxes. Barrhead was short $2.2 million earlier this year, TheRockies.Life reported in September. Oil companies had an outstanding $250 million in counties and municipalities across the province as of 2024.
Advocates say the problem is easy to understand and could be easy for the government to fix.
“We need to have a very simple [policy] in place – if you’re a company operating on a landscape and you don’t pay your taxes, you don’t get to operate,” Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) President Kara Westerlund told TheRockies.Life in an interview.
“I don’t understand why that’s such a difficult concept for the provincial government to figure out,” she said. “If [you and I] don’t pay our property taxes, our land gets seized and then it gets paid through that avenue.” She wants the government to hold oil companies to the same standard.
An industry-driven strategy to deal with cleanup
Earlier this year, the province released a report that makes recommendations for how the government should handle oil companies who don’t pay their taxes.
The report, entitled the Mature Assets Strategy, was led by industry insiders behind closed doors. While it was drafted to solve problems, critics have said that it favors passing funds for cleanup and outstanding taxes onto the public rather than making polluters pay.
In the case of municipal taxes, “the MAS avoids enforcement in favor of more time spent on new working groups and consultations,” according to the Cleaning up the MAS report.
So how do you talk about it?
The majority of Albertans agree that polluters should pay their own bills. Ninety per cent want oil and gas companies to pay for old oil well cleanup, rather than passing those costs onto the public, according to Janet Brown polling. Another 87 per cent support the government forcing the industry to cover unpaid property taxes.
Where it gets stickier – and where talking about it with friends and family becomes trickier – is that historically Alberta’s conservative governments have supported the industry over the Albertan public. Talking with family about the idea that polluters should pay means talking about how the UCP needs to better serve Albertans.
Still, there are ways to thread the needle and stitch together a productive conversation.
1. Instead of Arguing, Find Common Ground
The most productive conversations about how polluters should pay will start by finding common ground rather than arguing.
If a family member supports oil and gas and is against renewables, starting with the government’s renewables moratorium may be an avenue in.
Consider the Wheatland and Area Surface Rights Society’s (WAASRS) stance. “Premier Smith was correct in having a moratorium on wind and solar in order to create a security program for future clean up as they have a much larger footprint. A similar security program should have been created for the oil and gas industry initially,” WAASRS told TheRockies.Life in an email.
If you start with what you both agree on, the conversation is likely to be much more productive.
2. Connect to People’s Real Lives
Have family members’ neighbours been stiffed by an oil company? Are their counties struggling financially because of unpaid oil and gas property taxes?
In recent years, there’s been a shift in landowner support for oil and gas development, WAASRS said. “There have been some bad actor companies that were reducing their lease payments unilaterally.” TheRockies.Life recently published an investigation on one such actor, and many Albertans have had similar negative experiences with oil companies on their land.
If the conversation focuses on how people are impacted, it’s much more likely to be positive.
3. Some People Just Don’t Agree
Not everyone will be convinced. While ninety per cent of Albertans agree that polluters should pay for cleanup, ten percent don’t. Those in this minority likely won’t be convinced. Conversations with those who want polluters to pay but aren’t sure how the government should get involved are likely to be more productive than conversations with those who don’t believe polluters should pay in the first place.
Positive conversations about polluters pay issues are more likely to lead to positive actions. Let us know if you talk to your family about oil and gas over the holidays – we’d love to hear how it goes!
