Originally published Sept. 15, 2025 at The Narwhal. Read the full story here.

If Vitor Marciano, the chief of staff to Alberta’s energy minister, thought he was going to get a warm reception at a recent meeting in the village of Warburg, he was mistaken. 

Marciano faced jeers and doubt as he tried to sell a largely rural crowd on the government’s latest plan to deal with a cascade of problems caused by the oil and gas sector. 

Around 100 people were in the Warburg Community Hall on Sept. 9 to hear Marciano talk about the Mature Asset Strategy. It’s a series of recommendations the government says will help with the oil and gas industry’s unpaid taxes and leases, which include tens of thousands of inactive wells and environmental liabilities of almost $38 billion, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator. 

He was joined, unexpectedly, by the author of that strategy, Dave Yager, a board member of the regulator and a special advisor to Premier Danielle Smith. Yager was not advertised as a guest.

“The mature asset strategy will not give companies taxpayer dollars to clean up their assets,” Marciano said, summarizing his message to the crowd.

“It will,” came a voice from the back of the room.

“The mature asset strategy will not end or diminish the Orphan Well Association,” Marciano said, referring to the industry-funded association meant to deal with wells left behind by bankrupt companies. 

“It will,” came the same voice. 

“The mature asset strategy does not violate the polluter-pay principle,” Marciano continued.

“It will,” came the reply. 

That disagreement set the stage for the night, though it was one of the quieter exchanges, with the crowd often interrupting and arguing with Marciano. The level of frustration was high, with what many see as regulatory failure and government complicity — a view that Marciano himself largely agreed with, but which he promised would change. 

Many in the crowd remained unconvinced, and Marciano’s own presentation didn’t help. 

Twice in the early stages of his talk, Marciano was interrupted by audience members representing organizations that were mentioned in Marciano’s slides. They did not agree with his characterizations of facts. 

Surface rights groups were involved from the first meeting to discuss a path forward, according to Marciano. Not true, according to William Heidecker, a rancher and the president of the Alberta Surface Rights Federation, who said a request to be included was rebuffed. The Rural Municipalities of Alberta are working on solutions within the new strategy to tackle unpaid taxes, according to Marciano. Not true, according to Wyatt Skovron, the general manager of policy and advocacy for the association, who made clear the organization wants nothing to do with the new plan. 

Jennifer Stephenson, a local landowner, sparred with Marciano over not receiving a company’s lease payments on her land. Marciano said she needs to apply for reimbursement from the government. 

“It’s still our tax dollars,” she said. “That’s not good enough.”

In the room, there was palpable anger with the government and with the regulator for not enforcing existing rules. Grievances included wells being transferred to financially unstable companies, inspections that don’t happen, wells that aren’t closed and cleaned, payments that aren’t made, as well as the complaint that licences aren’t pulled and bad actors removed. 

Many in the room are also fighting to get land lease payments — the money owed to farmers and landowners by companies with wells on their land. 

Marciano and Yager’s message was: yes, mistakes were made. Now, please trust that we’re going to fix them. 

READ THE FULL STORY AT THE NARWHAL.