#765: Footprints: Alberta’s Early Land Reclamation Legislation Rooted In Oil Exploration
Robert Bott is co-editor of a new book about the history of soil conservation and reclamation in Alberta.
1963 marked the passage of the first legislation in the province to dictate soil reclamation due to industrial activity.
And as Robert explains, it began as the result of exploration for oil.
ROBERT BOTT: As you know, 1947 the Leduc discovery marked the beginning of the modern oil era in Alberta. And the 1950’s, there was just a huge explosion of drilling around the province. And the farmers became increasingly concerned about the state of their land after the drill rigs departed. And in those days of course a lot of dry holes were drilled, so there were a lot of these sites. And the Manning government realized that they would have to do something about all these angry farmers. The requirement was really very simple. Leave it clean and in a state where it can be farmed again.
Robert Bott says the legislation was amended in 1969 to include reclamation on Crown land in addition to surveyed in the settled areas of the province.
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I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Program Date: 2016-03-15