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Landowners in Alberta don’t have the right to refuse oil and gas exploration on their land, but receive rent payments from companies. If those companies don’t pay, the Alberta government will usually pay the amount owing, almost always at the expense of taxpayers. The Alberta government paid $14 million to landowners last year on behalf of oil and gas companies that couldn’t — or wouldn’t — pay their rent. The province only recouped a little less than $28,000 of the $14 million through debt collection — less than half of one per cent — according to figures obtained through a freedom of information request. Companies are required to pay rental payments to landowners whose land they are using for oil and gas activity, whether to drill a well or install another related facility. When they don’t pay, the tab is footed by taxpayers. The total is down from a high of $22 million the previous year , but well above the average of $6.5 million paid out over the past 13 years, according to data from the Land and Property Rights Tribunal, an independent tribunal that handles landowner claims for land rent ( until 2021 , such payments were […]
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