Hundreds of thousands of Alberta oil and gas wells are scattered across the province, but tracking the ultimate owners or beneficiaries of some of the companies that operate them can be challenging.
Photo: Amber Bracken / The Narwhal
In this week’s newsletter, we talk about how Prairies reporter Drew Anderson tracked down the Albertans behind oil and gas companies that didn’t pay their bills — including showing up to one businessman’s doorstep
A former prime minister, a major philanthropist and a host of developers … no this isn’t the start of a bar joke. These are the people caught up in a complex web of oil and gas companies that have not paid their bills in recent years — revealed in the latest Narwhal investigation published this week.
You might even recognize some of the names: Stephen Harper, former prime minister, for one. Don Taylor, noted Calgary businessman, another.
Drew Anderson has been working on connecting the corporate dots since last year — when the Alberta Energy Regulator started publishing a list of companies that have failed to make specific required payments related to cleaning up old wells.
But it’s not just a list — it masks a web of ownership that cost us more than $3,700 to bring to light, just in fees for corporate records alone.
And there’s nothing like a deep and tangled web to get Drew excited. (BTW, he just won the prestigious Hillman award for his investigation into Alberta’s renewable energy pause! Read on to find that story down below.)
It’s no small feat. The regulator only names the companies behind on their bills. And with names like 747384 Alberta Ltd., well, you’re not given a whole lot to go off.
So Drew obtained corporate registry documents and began connecting the companies and the people who ultimately own shares in them and/or sit on their boards. (That revealed some names that might surprise you. Read the full investigation here.)
Drew also sent countless emails, left voicemails and mailed letters to ensure these prominent figures had the chance to explain. He even went down to Taylor’s rather large home to deliver a list of questions straight to his mailbox — no dice.
The experts Drew spoke with raised concerns about the flaws in our current systems that allow for secrecy in Alberta’s corporate world. It’s a system that’s leaving ordinary citizens in the dark about how unpaid bills impact the natural world we all inhabit.
But thanks to reporters like Drew, you won’t have to worry about that as much — we’ll keep connecting the dots. Go read his investigation over here.
Take care and check your mail,
Sharon J. Riley
Prairies bureau chief
P.S. The $3,700 we spent on making sense of this, well, mess? That didn’t come from corporate dollars; that came from ordinary people like you and me who care about our natural resources and want to be in the know when companies don’t pay their fair share. Value this sort of reporting? Consider becoming a member of The Narwhal today — which is kinda like buying Drew a cup of coffee a month, so he can be fuelled up to break down any other corporate webs that come his way.
So, that award Drew won? It’s from the Sidney Hillman Foundation, which aims to honour investigative reporting and deep storytelling in service of the common good.
This is The Narwhal’s first Hillman Prize — and it recognizes Drew’s dogged coverage on Alberta’s surprise pause on renewables. The jury accurately called what Drew dug up a “political landmine,” and it immediately became a provincial hot potato.
To join in on the good vibes, Ontario reporter Emma McIntosh’s story on Lake Superior’s remaining, lonely caribou was nominated for a National Newspaper Award in the long features category!
The question Emma explored in her beautiful piece? “Once we start messing with the natural world — when it’s not really natural anymore — what do we owe the creatures that inhabit it?”
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The tangled web of Alberta’s corporate bureaucracy is no match for Drew Anderson, when he’s in the zone. Help us unearth more names that some would prefer to keep hidden by donating to The Narwhal today.
Here at The Narwhal, we don’t use profit, awards or pageviews to measure success. The thing that matters most is real-world impact — evidence that our reporting influenced citizens to hold power to account and pushed policymakers to do better.
Our stories have been raised in legislatures across the country and cited by citizens in their petitions and letters to politicians.
In Alberta, our reporting revealed Premier Danielle Smith made false statements about the controversial renewables pause. In Manitoba, we proved that officials failed to formally inspect a leaky pipeline for years. And our investigations on a leaked recording of TC Energy executives were called “the most important Canadian political story of the year.”
Here at The Narwhal, we don’t use profit, awards or pageviews to measure success. The thing that matters most is real-world impact — evidence that our reporting influenced citizens to hold power to account and pushed policymakers to do better.
Our stories have been raised in legislatures across the country and cited by citizens in their petitions and letters to politicians.
In Alberta, our reporting revealed Premier Danielle Smith made false statements about the controversial renewables pause. In Manitoba, we proved that officials failed to formally inspect a leaky pipeline for years. And our investigations on a leaked recording of TC Energy executives were called “the most important Canadian political story of the year.”
We’re fighting for our right to report — and your right to know. Stay in the loop about our trial against the RCMP and get a weekly dose of The Narwhal’s independent journalism
We’re fighting for our right to report — and your right to know. Stay in the loop about our trial against the RCMP and get a weekly dose of The Narwhal’s independent journalism
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