> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Alberta Landowners Sue Over Insufficient Orphan Well Cleanup Levy - URL: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/alberta-orphan-well-levy-lawsuit/ - Published: 2026-09-09T13:36:14.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-09T16:30:42.000Z - Description: Alberta landowners challenge an orphan well levy of $154.56 million while cleanup liabilities reach $1.66 billion. - Author: Steve Cogbill - Tags: Daily News, Alberta | Sourced from 5 independent sources (6 reports) · no points in dispute | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | The Globe and Mail, The Orchard, EnergyNow, Head Topics, and Ecojustice Every key fact in this report is confirmed by more than one independent source. 11 key facts · 11 corroborated · none disputed Why some reports were counted once Head Topics and CBC — the same report, published near-identically, counted once. When several outlets publish the identical article — often because they ran the same wire-service story — we count it as one source, not several, so the count reflects independent reporting rather than how widely one story was republished. Allegations described here are not proven in court unless stated. A group of Alberta landowners represented by Ecojustice is asking a court to intervene in how Alberta funds the cleanup of orphan oil and gas sites, arguing the province’s energy regulator has set an industry levy far too low for the work ahead. The judicial review application challenges the Alberta Energy Regulator’s orphan well levy, an industry fee that funds the Orphan Well Association’s cleanup of oil and gas wells and sites left without a responsible operator. ## Landowners challenge Alberta levy At the centre of the case is a sharp gap between the levy and the cleanup burden. The 2026/27 orphan well levy is about $154.56 million, while the Orphan Well Association’s estimated closure liabilities total about $1.66 billion. The applicants allege the levy is unreasonable, unlawful and too low to fund the cleanup work the association must carry out. They are asking the court to require the AER to recalculate the levy so it reflects cleanup costs. Ecojustice lawyer Susanne Calabrese framed the case as a test of whether Alberta’s backstop for abandoned oil and gas liabilities is doing what it is supposed to do. “The law is clear: the Orphan Fund Levy is supposed to cover cleanup costs,” Calabrese said in source reporting. “A backstop that isn’t adequately funded fails to be a backstop at all.” ## Cleanup backlog keeps growing The Orphan Well Association’s current inventory includes 7,370 wells needing decommissioning and 9,151 sites needing reclamation. The applicants say underfunding delays cleanup and shifts environmental and financial risks from oil and gas companies to Albertans. They also point to Long Run Exploration’s insolvency, which sharply expanded the association’s orphan-site inventory, as a sign of how quickly the burden can grow. “The number of orphan sites continues to grow, while the funding available to clean them up is not keeping pace,” Calabrese said. “And when the levy falls short, the risk and ultimately the cost doesn’t disappear, it gets pushed onto Albertans.” For landowners, the case is being presented as more than a dispute over accounting. Dwight Popowich, one of the landowners quoted in source reporting, said he wants a regulator that enforces the rules. “We need to get a regulator that actually regulates, that actually follows the law,” Popowich said. “This isn’t complicated. Even my grandkids know that if you make a mess, you clean it up.” ## Allegations of industry influence The applicants also allege the AER improperly allows industry interests to shape levy-setting decisions. “Our clients, like many Albertans, want to know whether public-interest decisions are being driven by rules and laws, or by industry pressure,” Calabrese said. Bill Heidecker, quoted as president of the Alberta Surface Rights Federation, described the case as one about public trust. “This case is ultimately about accountability,” Heidecker said. “Albertans should not be left paying the price for the Regulator’s failure.” Teresa Patry, another landowner quoted in the source material, said the issue reaches into daily life for families living with these sites. “This is personal,” Patry said. “These sites have had very real impacts on my family’s livelihood, property value, health, and peace of mind.” ## Regulator declines court comment The landowners first challenged the levy through AER internal processes, and the regulator dismissed those challenges. The judicial review application is the next step in that fight. The AER said it could not comment publicly on matters before the courts. That leaves the court application to carry a broader question now pressing on Alberta’s orphan well system: whether the industry-funded levy is being set at a level that matches the cleanup job it is meant to finance, or whether landowners and the public are being left to wait while liabilities pile up. **Reader-funded. No ads. No paywall.** The Canada Report is independent, reader-funded Canadian news — no advertisers, nothing behind a paywall, kept free for everyone. If you value it, you can help keep it that way. [Support The Canada Report →](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/support/) --- [*Source 1*](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-alberta-landowners-take-energy-regulator-to-court-over-orphan-well/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 2*](https://www.readtheorchard.org/p/landowners-take-aer-to-court-for?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 3*](https://ca.headtopics.com/news/alberta-landowners-sue-aer-arguing-orphan-well-levy-is-too-87543156?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 4*](https://energynow.ca/2026/09/alberta-landowners-challenge-chronic-underfunding-for-orphan-well-cleanup/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 5*](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/legal-challenge-alberta-energy-regulator-levy-orphan-wells-9.7333930?cmp=rss&ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 6*](https://ecojustice.ca/news/landowners-launch-legal-challenge-of-the-alberta-energy-regulators-unacceptable-and-unlawful-orphan-well-funding/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) ## Sign up for The Canada Report Your modern digest of Canadian news. 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