The complaint sent to the Ethics Commissioner cites the section of the act which states that the premier’s or ministerial staffers cannot take part in a decision if it might further their private interests, or those of their family.Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press
An Alberta landowner has asked the province’s ethics commissioner to investigate Premier Danielle Smith’s top energy adviser for possible conflict-of-interest rule breaches.
At the heart of the complaint is David Yager, a long-time oil and gas executive and policy analyst who was a driving force behind the Wildrose Party, once led by Ms. Smith. Mr. Yager was appointed chair of the Premier’s Advisory Council on Alberta’s Energy Future and, since 2023, has received four sole-source government contracts through his company, Yager Management Ltd. One of those, for $156,000, was to help develop Alberta’s mature-asset strategy on how to clean up the nearly 80,000 inactive oil and gas wells littering the province, according to the document filed with the commissioner.
The complaint was lodged by Ecojustice lawyers on behalf of Dwight Popowich, a landowner in Two Hills, Alta, roughly 140 kilometres east of Edmonton.
Mr. Popowich argued that as the primary architect of the strategy to clean up wells, Mr. Yager should not also be acting as a consultant for oil and gas companies, advising the Premier, and sitting on the board of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) since 2024, which is supposed to be an independent body and industry watchdog.
“You can’t do all three of those at the same time and be in compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act, is what our opinion is,” Mr. Popowich said in an interview.
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The complaint sent to the Ethics Commissioner cites the section of the act which states that the premier or ministerial staffers cannot take part in a decision if it might further their private interests, or those of their family.
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Mr. Yager said he had no comment on the complaint.
The other three sole-sourced contracts received by Mr. Yager included $60,000 to prepare a report on Alberta’s energy future, $70,000 to complete a review of the AER and $136,000 for “professional services” for executive council, according to the document and the province’s contract disclosure website.
The office of Brian Jean, the Minister of Energy and Minerals, said in a statement that Mr. Yager has not had any clients in the oil and gas industry since he signed a contract with the department in 2023.
“The AER has conflict of interest rules which have been approved by the Ethics Commissioner and Mr. Yager is compliant with those rules,” the statement said.
“Further, the contract with Executive Council was also reviewed by the Department’s Contract Review Committee which confirmed that there would not be a conflict of interest related to his contributions to the Mature Asset Strategy or the advice he would be providing.”
Close to half a million oil and gas wells are scattered around Alberta, two-thirds of which are no longer producing. Estimates of the potential cost to clean them up vary wildly, from $33-billion into the hundreds of billions of dollars. A 2023 analysis from the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy concluded that the province would face a financial and environmental catastrophe unless the problem is addressed.
The mature-asset strategy authored by Mr. Yager directly affects Mr. Popowich.
Sequoia Resources Corp. drilled a well in the middle of an alfalfa field on his land in 2008. That well stopped producing in 2012. Six years later, the company said it was ceasing operations, and would be unable to cover the cost of looking after or cleaning up its more than 3,000 wells and pipelines.
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But it wasn’t until Jan. 30 of this year that the AER directed the Orphan Well Association, which manages oil and gas sites that don’t have a legally or financially responsible party, to take control of the company’s assets – including the well in Mr. Popowich’s alfalfa field.
The development of the mature-asset strategy included consultations with various groups, including oil companies, municipalities and regulatory agencies, according to the final report, but has been widely criticized for prioritizing industry interests at the expense of the public good – an assertion reflected in Mr. Popowich’s complaint.
He believes the strategy would shift responsibility for oil and gas infrastructure that is no longer commercially viable off the shoulders of industry, and let the sector shirk its legal obligations to properly clean up wells.
“This is the oil and gas industry doing it for the oil and gas industry, not looking after the best interests of the people of Alberta,” Mr. Popowich said.
“This problem is created by the industry. This is their circus, their monkeys.”
His hope is that the Ethics Commissioner ultimately investigates how the mature-asset strategy was developed.
“Hopefully then the legislature will say, ‘No, we can’t make this law. This is not right.’ That’s what we’re hoping is going to come out of this,” he said.
The complaint about Mr. Yager follows a regulatory appeal Mr. Popowich filed against the province’s energy watchdog, arguing that the agency has consistently failed to collect enough money from oil and gas companies to cover the substantial cost of cleaning up orphan wells.