The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Dec. 6, edition that in 2023, Alberta's oil and gas sector spent nearly $770-million to clean up inactive wells, but experts argue this is insufficient given the province's environmental liabilities. The Globe's Emma Graney writes that combined with funding from the government's site-rehabilitation program and the Orphan Well Association, total spending exceeded $1-billion, yet only about 5 per cent of inactive wells were addressed, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator's recent report. The AER mandated that the sector spend $700-million annually on such cleanups. The AER has attached a $33.3-billion price tag to the cost of cleaning up the province's hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells, but University of Calgary faculty of law associate professor Martin Olszynski believes that number is off by a huge margin. He says the industry is not spending enough to tackle the problem, and would like the AER to force the sector s hand. The AER has no plan to source funds for those liabilities from profitable companies, says Prof. Olszynski, noting that Canadian Natural Resources has about 20,000 of Alberta's 80,000 inactive wells.