Originally published Nov. 28, 2024 at The Narwhal. Read the full story here.

Last spring, at a meeting of residents of Kneehill County opposed to a new wind project in their Alberta community, a woman stood up and introduced herself to the crowd. In a room filled with neighbours angry about the proposed Lone Pine wind farm, Trish Tetz said she was one of approximately 40 people who had signed contracts to build turbines on her land.

Then she told the crowd she feels like her family was coerced into signing and regrets it. 

“I just wanted to bring that to light. I’ve been sitting there stewing on this for a while, hoping I don’t get into trouble or put my foot in my mouth,” she said.

Tetz and her husband run a fourth-generation cattle ranch and farm that focuses on grass-fed cows. The duo took over their parcel of land from her husband’s family earlier this year. 

They didn’t just inherit the land, however. They also assumed the contract signed by Tetz’ mother-in-law with Spirit Pine Energy, the company that initially owned the project. (Spirit Pine sold the Lone Pine project to a Toronto-based company called Capstone Infrastructure that’s owned by European investment fund iCON Infrastructure in 2022.) Tetz was not involved in those negotiations.

“Because the caveat is there, even if we choose not to renew and the project hasn’t gone through, we cannot get that caveat off,” she said, referring to a clause that allows for access to her land will remain there until a project is reclaimed.

She’s not alone in her concerns.

Many rural landowners are familiar with representatives of energy companies — called land agents — knocking on their doors to seek permission for new projects. But some landowners in the Kneehill County community say the agents or project owners who travelled the county to talk about the wind farm used deceptive tactics to get them to sign contracts. Chief among those deceptions, they say, was telling landowners all their neighbours had already signed on and if they didn’t, they would be left out of the benefits, while still being surrounded by turbines.

But this is just one side of an issue where confusion is ubiquitous and the rules are poorly understood. The company denied it used aggressive tactics, saying there were many open conversations with landowners. But in a province where landowners have long dealt with oil and gas developments on their property, a different set of rules for renewables has led to confusion and mistrust.

When an oil or gas well is drilled on private land, landowners are compensated for the access. The Alberta government provides a guarantee of sorts that landowners will get that money, with a taxpayer-funded backstop — although that process can be long and stressful. Landowners who agree to renewable projects are not entitled to the same guarantee they will be paid. 

“One of the constraints around the development of lease agreements, and how people are being compensated, is that it’s all done in privacy and secrecy,” John Parkins, a professor in the department of resource economics and environmental sociology at the University of Alberta, said in an interview.

The lack of transparency, coupled with a process that can take years to play out, creates room for suspicion and backlash.

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE NARWHAL.