Members of the Surface Rights Society No. 52 heard from a member of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) that oilfield flaring by the top 15 oilfield batteries in this area has gone down 66 percent since 1999.

The Surface Rights Society No. 52 takes in a smaller geographical area inside the Wainwright EUB field centres. There are eight such centres across Alberta.

EUB engineer, Doug Innes of Calgary told The News that the reduction is “very significant.” He says the top 15 oil batteries have reduced flaring more than others in the wider Wainwright area.

In the Wainwright area the reduction in flaring since 1999 was 47 percent.

Since 1996 across Alberta flaring of solution gases has dropped by 53 percent according to the latest data available in 2001. That, says Innes, is also “significant” and points out that the Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA) had set a goal of 25 percent.

The EUB employee says that they are getting co-operation from industry and government and CASA over the flaring issue. CASA, formed about five years ago is made up of government, industry, public and concerned individuals.

Innes was asked to speak about flaring when he was invited to Metiskow and says that he spoke about solution gas (derived from crude oil or crude bitumen batteries) but was not addressing natural gas issues.