The Petroleum Services Association of Canada has asked for infrastructure funding from the federal government in the form of 500 million dollars for cleaning up inactive oil and gas wells in Alberta. President and CEO of PSAC Mark Salkeld says as of January there is more that 75 thousand wells that need to be decommissioned. He explains that getting this done will create jobs, retain expertise and skills, and provide economic and environmental benefits.
Recently the Saskatchewan government pitched a similar idea to Ottawa with a proposal of 156 million dollars to decommission Alberta oil and gas wells while creating 12 hundred jobs over the next two years.