Remediation continues at former oil well in Calmar

CALMAR -- Work continues to remediate an old oil well in the Town of Calmar. 

Over the past several years, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) has been working towards the remediation of the well located on a parcel of land directly south of the ball diamonds. The well was drilled in 1951, and by 1975, all battery-related facilities were removed, and the site was issued a reclamation certificate.

The second phase of the environmental site assessments were completed between 2012 and 2016, and identified salinity, petroleum hydrocarbon, metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon impacts associated with the former flare pit, production area, and wellhead. This prompted the creation a risk assessment plan, which identifies the areas that the Town of Calmar needs to avoid in order to prevent any future liabilities.

"Whoever has put the contamination in the ground is responsible for it for life, unless disturbed by a third party," said Sylvain Losier, CAO for the Town of Calmar. "So now we know where we can, and cannot dig, as long as we don't touch the area that we're not supposed to dig, we aren't liable."

The RAP was officially signed off on by Calmar Council at their meeting on July 28th, which will allow for the remediation work by Canadian Natural Resources to continue in collaboration with Alberta Environment. The purpose of the remediation was to enable recreational uses of the area.