08/14/2026
Attention landowners, please read & reach out to the contact below if you are interested in sharing your experiences for a University of Calgary research study:
“Orphan wells—non-producing oil wells abandoned by insolvent fossil fuel companies—account for 35% of the 450,000 wells in Alberta. Although companies are legally obligated to clean up (remediate and reclaim) these orphan wells, they rarely do. These wells not only represent decades of cumulative environmental pollution, but social and community impact as well. At the University of Calgary, we are aiming to capture and understand the stories of people who have had experience with orphan wells in various states of remediation and reclamation on their property. We are looking for participants who would be willing to participate in an in person or online interview with our research team: to share their experiences with oil wells on their land, actions they may have taken to get companies to clean up their orphan wells, and generally, to share their perspectives on the orphan well problem in Alberta. If you are interested, please send an email to either: [email protected] or [email protected]). This project has been approved by the University of Calgary Ethics Board, and is funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.”
