Premier Smith to attend Surface Rights Society AGM
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Wheatland and Area Surface Rights Society will be hosting Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at their Annual General Meeting (AGM), March 5, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Standard Hall.
“Our March AGM, (the way) we planned it, we had a meeting in November in Calgary with Premier Smith and a number of ministers, and a couple of MLAs. It was a really good opportunity to have a chat with a group of our government officials,” said Spencer Hilton, chairman of the Wheatland and Area Surface Rights Society. “We were specifically talking about service rights, and I think specifically what is of concern to us right now is … oil and gas operators in this area wanting to cut back on their surface leases.”
During the AGM meeting, Hilton said the topic of surface rights and leases to farmers will be discussed at length.
He added he is excited that Smith has indicated to the Surface Rights Society that she is in support of their dilemma.
“We are very fortunate, I think, to have a Premier who … is a landowner advocate. We are very fortunate that we have the leader of our province who has that background and that understanding,” he said. “Obviously, it is going to take some really good communication and some hard work, but we feel that there is an opportunity here where we can possibly sit down with energy companies … and to sit down with the government … and try to figure out what we can do to go forward.”
Ongoing concerns regarding surface rights, as Hilton described, are between oil and gas entities leasing land from farmers to extract material from the ground, and the farmers who own lands being operated on.
These disputes are largely in regards to compensation to the farmers for use of their lands, given the invasive nature of crude extraction, as well as the loss of farmable land due to the presence of extraction equipment.
“Typically, you renegotiate (every cycle) just like as if you’re leasing (to) somebody or you’re renting somebody’s house or typically you would anticipate that there would probably be an increase because nothing ever seems to go down,” said Hilton. “Landowners from all the people who we have talked to and all the experiences that we have had … almost completely have been excellent to their tenants … the farmers, what they have said is they have not asked for an increase (in compensation) over two to three cycles. And if a cycle is five years, that is 10 to 15 years.”
Hilton added as negotiations are ongoing, there is not yet a clear resolution date, nor conditions that have been set for resolving the dispute.