"More than 20,000 old oil and gas wells across [Alberta] have been sitting abandoned or inactive for more than a decade without being cleaned up, worrying landowners and environmentalists who say the sites unnecessarily eat up and possibly contaminate valuable farm land. ...

Alberta Environment reports that reclamation certification --supposed to be completed after wells are abandoned to show the land has been restored to a more natural state -- is progressing at a much slower rate than abandonment."

Kelly Cryderman reports for the Calgary Herald July 26, 2009. [2]