Richard Froese
South Peace News
Oil and gas companies that want to construct temporary road approaches on Big Lakes County road allowances to wellsites may soon have to start paying a security deposit.
At its regular meeting Feb. 26, council approved a motion to update the county public works policy on approaches and add a security deposit.
Big Lakes administra- tion is suggesting a deposit of $4,800 that would need to be added to the schedule of fees bylaw to take effect.
The former policy states the company making the original request shall be responsible for removing the approach once the wellsite is no longer active and carry out all clean-up, says Ben Letemplier, director of public works.
“The addition of a security deposit will encourage companies to remove the approach according to the policy,” Letemplier says.
“This encourages companies to remove the temporary approaches from county road allowances rather than abandoning them.
“If a company abandons the approach in place, the security deposit is held for future repair or removal costs performed by the county.”
The estimated life cycle of a culvert is 10 years, Letemplier says.