Timetable now set for leaky well responsibility

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on December 23, 2021.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

A new timetable to determine who is responsible for a recently reworked natural gas well below S. Railway Street commercial plaza has been laid out.

This fall a full-sized drilling rig shut down traffic along the busy strip in central Medicine Hat for about two months as an historic well-bore was repaired and permanently closed in.

That work was completed by crews contracted by Canadian Pacific Railway, which operated its roundhouse near the well site for decades up until the 1960s.

However, last winter the railway appealed a decision by the Alberta Energy Regulator that made it legally responsible for the well, drilled near the turn of the 20th century, which was leaking amounts of methane.

A hearing set for October was postponed by the parties involved, including the City of Medicine Hat and two successors to CP’s energy division, Cenovus and Ovintiv energy.

A new schedule states CP has a Feb. 18 deadline to respond to those parties’ submissions, at which time a new hearing will be scheduled.