County of Essex receives update on MNRF plan to address risks from legacy oil and gas wells
Members of Essex County Council received a report during its May 1 meeting detailing the status of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) action plan to address risks from legacy oil and gas wells in Southwestern Ontario.
Outlining the progress on the project, Justin Lammers, Essex Windsor EMS (EWEMS) Chief, explained established wells closed without adequate procedures pose risks, such as the release of hazardous gases.
“In response, the Ontario government has allocated $7.5M over three-years, with the County of Essex successfully spearheading the first year’s plan with full funding,” he said, noting it was done on budget and met the deadline. “This progress would not be possible without collaboration with local partners, and with key staff members working together under tight timelines.
The County of Essex was one region of nine approved for funding in year one.
“This plan includes collaboration with local municipalities and focuses on public awareness, training, monitoring, capacity building, Emergency Response Plan updates, and delivering Emergency Management Ontario training,” Lammers explained.
The report notes The County of Essex formulated a plan and received approval from the MNRF to execute the first year of this fully funded plan of $280,000 in collaboration with its local municipal partners.
Some of the highlights to date for which he is most proud includes new gas detection devices and enhanced monitoring capabilities from the entire region, and handheld portable radios for communications redundancy and unified command across all regions and emergency services, should the need arise. This is in addition to satellite systems for primary and secondary Emergency Operations Centers for every municipality and the coordination of training amongst all municipalities.
He recognized all municipalities for their collaboration and support during the project. Lammers also acknowledged EWEMS Deputy Chief Ryan Lemay, as the project lead, who was supported by County of Essex’s members of Emergency Management, administration of finance, IT, Legal, and Procurement Departments.
“This was no small feat,” he said.
Moving ahead, subsequent funding for years two and three will require re-application. Year two began April 1, 2024. The County of Essex is currently awaiting notification from MNRF with the instructions to apply for year two funding.
“I don’t think there is a single person sitting at this table whose anxiety didn’t rise when a planning application hit our local tables and we saw there [were] these legacy wells on there,” Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers said.
Rogers is looking to see this kind of collaboration continue to happen. He also liked that the Ministry recognized this is beyond the scope of the region and will continue funding.
This program made Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy wonder “what else are we not thinking about in terms of emergency management?” she asked, for instance, about wind turbines and the possibility of them leaking oil onto crops. That may not be an emergency management issue for the regional table, but wondered about a plan if they were to start to come into disrepair.
With the issue of not properly closed gas and oil wells identified and an emergency plan in place, Bondy wondered if anyone has looked into talking to landowners or the responsibility of anyone about decommissioning and securing sites.
Lammers responded that as far as he knows no direct conversations have taken place with landowners, but there has been a large public awareness campaign to all members on how to deal with emergencies like this.
Michael Prue, Mayor of Amherstburg, said he was not aware of these wells and the report came as quite a surprise. He also noted that there are brine wells out there as well. He asked if they would propose any risk, such as collapsing or in releasing gas.
Lammers was happy to look into Prue’s question and report on his findings at the next meeting.
Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
