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The bill for delinquent companies — picked up almost entirely by taxpayers — is up 3,000 per cent from 2010 The Alberta government has compensated landowners on behalf of delinquent oil and gas companies at a level unprecedented in recent years, The Narwhal has learned. Last year alone, the government paid more than $20 million on behalf of oil and gas companies — a 142 per cent increase over the year before and equivalent to the total tab from 2010 to 2018, according to data from the province’s Surface Rights Board, an independent tribunal that handles landowner claims for land rent. Data shows there has been a 3,000 per cent increase in the amount of money the government has paid out on behalf of oil and gas companies since 2010. At the same time, the portion of that money recovered from companies has plummeted, according to data obtained through a freedom of information request. When an oil or gas company drills a well on private land, it is responsible for annual payments to the landowner known as land rent. When the company cannot, or will not, pay land rent, landowners can apply to the Alberta government’s Surface Rights Board […]
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