Mark Dorin
@markdorin.bsky.social
Alberta land rights advocate. I specialize in oil and gas regulatory, public safety and surface rights issues, including urban land. Orphan well and unfunded liabilities dude. Vice Chair Polluter Pay Federation. New C4RE Coalition member.
Pinned
Mark Dorin
@markdorin.bsky.social
· Nov 22
What would you do if the operator of an oil well & related equipment could not produce a “surface lease” granting a right to be on the land & stopped paying compensation to you three years ago?
It’s a growing Alberta problem you’re bearing the cost of.
canlii.ca/t/827r#sec36
It’s a growing Alberta problem you’re bearing the cost of.
canlii.ca/t/827r#sec36
Five years ago today I posted this. It’s still relevant.
February 14, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Five years ago today I posted this. It’s still relevant.
It will take more than a report called Alberta’s Mature Asset Strategy to tackle the massive problem of hundreds of insolvent oil companies holding over 35,000 well, facility, and pipeline licenses.
Where’s the Regulator?
www.lakelandtoday.ca/the-latest/s....
Where’s the Regulator?
www.lakelandtoday.ca/the-latest/s....
Alberta probes why firms in tax arrears got new well licences
Documents show some companies with large tax arrears were still approved to acquire new well licences, raising questions about how provincial rules are enforced.
www.lakelandtoday.ca
February 6, 2026 at 2:38 PM
It will take more than a report called Alberta’s Mature Asset Strategy to tackle the massive problem of hundreds of insolvent oil companies holding over 35,000 well, facility, and pipeline licenses.
Where’s the Regulator?
www.lakelandtoday.ca/the-latest/s....
Where’s the Regulator?
www.lakelandtoday.ca/the-latest/s....
I applaud this from Alberta’s chief justices. 👏
The principles they remind us of also apply to quasi-judicial decision making. Example: Separation from government and the Alberta Energy Regulator, and between hearing commissioners and other AER decision makers, are required.
The principles they remind us of also apply to quasi-judicial decision making. Example: Separation from government and the Alberta Energy Regulator, and between hearing commissioners and other AER decision makers, are required.
January 28, 2026 at 3:13 PM
I applaud this from Alberta’s chief justices. 👏
The principles they remind us of also apply to quasi-judicial decision making. Example: Separation from government and the Alberta Energy Regulator, and between hearing commissioners and other AER decision makers, are required.
The principles they remind us of also apply to quasi-judicial decision making. Example: Separation from government and the Alberta Energy Regulator, and between hearing commissioners and other AER decision makers, are required.
Request to investigate David Yager for conflict of interest rejected by Alberta ethics commissioner.
Correction: Yager’s Mature Asset Strategy is not about “abandoned” wells. It’s, inter alia, about unprofitable oil & gas wells & who will pay to retire them).
medicinehatnews.com/news/local-n...
Correction: Yager’s Mature Asset Strategy is not about “abandoned” wells. It’s, inter alia, about unprofitable oil & gas wells & who will pay to retire them).
medicinehatnews.com/news/local-n...
Conflict of interest investigation into AER board member denied by ethics commissioner - Medicine Hat News
[email protected] The ethics commissioner has denied a request for investigation into an energy regulator board member and adviser to Premier Danielle Smith for possible conflicts of interest...
medicinehatnews.com
January 25, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Request to investigate David Yager for conflict of interest rejected by Alberta ethics commissioner.
Correction: Yager’s Mature Asset Strategy is not about “abandoned” wells. It’s, inter alia, about unprofitable oil & gas wells & who will pay to retire them).
medicinehatnews.com/news/local-n...
Correction: Yager’s Mature Asset Strategy is not about “abandoned” wells. It’s, inter alia, about unprofitable oil & gas wells & who will pay to retire them).
medicinehatnews.com/news/local-n...
This man David Yager told me in a phone message he is a “Minister Without Portfolio” of the Alberta government. The Ethics Commissioner found he is not.
He is on the board of directors of the Alberta Energy Regulator.
www.readtheorchard.org/p/ethics-com...
He is on the board of directors of the Alberta Energy Regulator.
www.readtheorchard.org/p/ethics-com...
Ethics complaint dismissed against Smith advisor who supports publicly funded well cleanup
In a Dec. 10 letter obtained by The Orchard, Ethics Commissioner (and UCP donor) Shawn McLeod says the Conflict of Interest Act doesn't apply to David Yager.
www.readtheorchard.org
January 22, 2026 at 2:23 PM
This man David Yager told me in a phone message he is a “Minister Without Portfolio” of the Alberta government. The Ethics Commissioner found he is not.
He is on the board of directors of the Alberta Energy Regulator.
www.readtheorchard.org/p/ethics-com...
He is on the board of directors of the Alberta Energy Regulator.
www.readtheorchard.org/p/ethics-com...
Which illegality should prevail?
Gas venting at oil wells is illegal in Alberta but the Regulator refuses to enforce the law.
Shutting in someone else’s well is also illegal.
I’m experienced. I can shut down the offending wells safely. Should I?
How low can it go? 😢
youtu.be/RsYgWAqmqms?...
Gas venting at oil wells is illegal in Alberta but the Regulator refuses to enforce the law.
Shutting in someone else’s well is also illegal.
I’m experienced. I can shut down the offending wells safely. Should I?
How low can it go? 😢
youtu.be/RsYgWAqmqms?...
Google Search
www.google.com
December 20, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Which illegality should prevail?
Gas venting at oil wells is illegal in Alberta but the Regulator refuses to enforce the law.
Shutting in someone else’s well is also illegal.
I’m experienced. I can shut down the offending wells safely. Should I?
How low can it go? 😢
youtu.be/RsYgWAqmqms?...
Gas venting at oil wells is illegal in Alberta but the Regulator refuses to enforce the law.
Shutting in someone else’s well is also illegal.
I’m experienced. I can shut down the offending wells safely. Should I?
How low can it go? 😢
youtu.be/RsYgWAqmqms?...
How to Avoid an Alberta Orphan Well Crisis
YouTube video by Mark Dorin
youtu.be
December 13, 2025 at 10:49 PM
My Saturday public education project on an important subject Albertans are poorly informed about.
I recently gave a seminar in Calgary on "Alberta's Orphan Well Crisis" (not my title). I made a video of that presentation.
Today I am preparing it for upload to YouTube.
I recently gave a seminar in Calgary on "Alberta's Orphan Well Crisis" (not my title). I made a video of that presentation.
Today I am preparing it for upload to YouTube.
December 13, 2025 at 7:41 PM
My Saturday public education project on an important subject Albertans are poorly informed about.
I recently gave a seminar in Calgary on "Alberta's Orphan Well Crisis" (not my title). I made a video of that presentation.
Today I am preparing it for upload to YouTube.
I recently gave a seminar in Calgary on "Alberta's Orphan Well Crisis" (not my title). I made a video of that presentation.
Today I am preparing it for upload to YouTube.
Reposted by Mark Dorin
I agree, the Alberta Energy Regulator is a joke. Been calling for AER reform for years. All of industry and AER staff know how bad it is. Municipalities know. Most landowners know.
So why can’t we achieve any progress on reform?
So why can’t we achieve any progress on reform?
December 13, 2025 at 1:20 AM
I agree, the Alberta Energy Regulator is a joke. Been calling for AER reform for years. All of industry and AER staff know how bad it is. Municipalities know. Most landowners know.
So why can’t we achieve any progress on reform?
So why can’t we achieve any progress on reform?
Reposted by Mark Dorin
🚨 Another new report criticizing the Alberta government's Mature Asset Strategy 🚨 -- Clean up the MAS: How Alberta’s Mature Asset Strategy allows a profitable industry to offload oil and gas cleanup to the public www.redwaterinsights.org/newsandresea... #ABLeg #ABPoli
Clean up the MAS: How Alberta’s Mature Asset Strategy allows a profitable industry to offload oil and gas cleanup to the public — Redwater Insights
By Rob Schuwerk Redwater Head of Research
www.redwaterinsights.org
December 11, 2025 at 7:10 PM
🚨 Another new report criticizing the Alberta government's Mature Asset Strategy 🚨 -- Clean up the MAS: How Alberta’s Mature Asset Strategy allows a profitable industry to offload oil and gas cleanup to the public www.redwaterinsights.org/newsandresea... #ABLeg #ABPoli
Reposted by Mark Dorin
This is NEFARIOUS levels of negligence. - "Data shows an oil company owed 10 times the government’s limit on unpaid taxes when the Alberta Energy Regulator let it take over more wells and pipelines. Critics says it’s the tip of the iceberg" thenarwhal.ca/alberta-ener... #ABLeg #ABPoli #CDNPoli
Alberta Energy Regulator ignored its own rules, data suggests | The Narwhal
New evidence suggests the Alberta Energy Regulator ignored a ministerial order — and critics say that’s just the tip of the iceberg
thenarwhal.ca
December 11, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This is NEFARIOUS levels of negligence. - "Data shows an oil company owed 10 times the government’s limit on unpaid taxes when the Alberta Energy Regulator let it take over more wells and pipelines. Critics says it’s the tip of the iceberg" thenarwhal.ca/alberta-ener... #ABLeg #ABPoli #CDNPoli
Reposted by Mark Dorin
Dwight is a rural landowner in Two Hills, #Alberta.
12 years ago, he was forced to host a gas well on his land, on the condition that the industry fully close and clean it up when the well stopped producing.
That never happened.
Watch the full video 👉 ecojustice.ca/LandownerStories
#OrphanWells
12 years ago, he was forced to host a gas well on his land, on the condition that the industry fully close and clean it up when the well stopped producing.
That never happened.
Watch the full video 👉 ecojustice.ca/LandownerStories
#OrphanWells
December 9, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Dwight is a rural landowner in Two Hills, #Alberta.
12 years ago, he was forced to host a gas well on his land, on the condition that the industry fully close and clean it up when the well stopped producing.
That never happened.
Watch the full video 👉 ecojustice.ca/LandownerStories
#OrphanWells
12 years ago, he was forced to host a gas well on his land, on the condition that the industry fully close and clean it up when the well stopped producing.
That never happened.
Watch the full video 👉 ecojustice.ca/LandownerStories
#OrphanWells
“When it comes to the oil patch, it seems like there is no rules for them”.
Please watch Ron’s story. Alberta landowner hosting bankrupt Long Run Energy.
(I reported the pipeline break issue in the area to the AER, no reply.
youtu.be/bE0gXHmJUJU?...
Please watch Ron’s story. Alberta landowner hosting bankrupt Long Run Energy.
(I reported the pipeline break issue in the area to the AER, no reply.
youtu.be/bE0gXHmJUJU?...
Ron’s Story: Albertan Farmer Speaks Out About Multi-Billion Dollar Well Cleanup Crisis
YouTube video by Ecojustice Canada
youtu.be
December 6, 2025 at 11:11 PM
“When it comes to the oil patch, it seems like there is no rules for them”.
Please watch Ron’s story. Alberta landowner hosting bankrupt Long Run Energy.
(I reported the pipeline break issue in the area to the AER, no reply.
youtu.be/bE0gXHmJUJU?...
Please watch Ron’s story. Alberta landowner hosting bankrupt Long Run Energy.
(I reported the pipeline break issue in the area to the AER, no reply.
youtu.be/bE0gXHmJUJU?...
Reposted by Mark Dorin
Rural Albertans are speaking up about their mistreatment by oil & gas companies and our govt's failure to address the cleanup crisis. This problem will only get worse if we don't stop the Mature Asset Strategy & force companies to clean up their mess! ecojustice.ca/news/landown... #ABLeg #ABPoli
Alberta landowners react to well cleanup crisis
Rural landowners speak out about Alberta’s multi-billion dollar well cleanup crisis
ecojustice.ca
December 4, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Rural Albertans are speaking up about their mistreatment by oil & gas companies and our govt's failure to address the cleanup crisis. This problem will only get worse if we don't stop the Mature Asset Strategy & force companies to clean up their mess! ecojustice.ca/news/landown... #ABLeg #ABPoli
BEWARE: When landowner and stock producer groups are ringing alarm bells - saying proceed with ⚠️ caution ⚠️ on Alberta’s “Mature Asset Strategy” (plan for spent wells that are liabilities nobody wants) - you should listen!
www.albertafarmexpress.ca/news/recomme...
www.albertafarmexpress.ca/news/recomme...
Recommendations in the mature assets strategy could cause potential problems for landholders - Alberta Farmer Express
The Western Stock Growers’ Association urges producers to pay attention to the potential changes to Alberta’s Mature Assets Strategy.
www.albertafarmexpress.ca
December 2, 2025 at 2:27 PM
BEWARE: When landowner and stock producer groups are ringing alarm bells - saying proceed with ⚠️ caution ⚠️ on Alberta’s “Mature Asset Strategy” (plan for spent wells that are liabilities nobody wants) - you should listen!
www.albertafarmexpress.ca/news/recomme...
www.albertafarmexpress.ca/news/recomme...
I was happy to support fellow @c4re-for-ab.bsky.social coalition member Keeper of the Water in opposition to Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage proposed by Pathway’s Alliance,
The non-profit environmental group Keepers of the Water teamed up with other environmental groups and the chief of the Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta to demand the proposed pathways alliance project be stopped.
Environmental groups and a First Nations chief demands carbon capture project be stopped | APTN News
YouTube video by APTN News
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 12:48 AM
I was happy to support fellow @c4re-for-ab.bsky.social coalition member Keeper of the Water in opposition to Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage proposed by Pathway’s Alliance,
Reposted by Mark Dorin
Full interview from Bill Heidecker here - A renewed push to hold industry accountable for cleaning up oil wells: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-... #ABLeg #ABPoli
November 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Full interview from Bill Heidecker here - A renewed push to hold industry accountable for cleaning up oil wells: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-... #ABLeg #ABPoli
Reposted by Mark Dorin
Major projects, major problems: anger at Carney’s unclear plans is the real shared national interest, @drewanderson.bsky.social writes:
thenarwhal.ca/alberta-pipe...
thenarwhal.ca/alberta-pipe...
The real major project is politics, not pipelines | The Narwhal
Carney’s major projects push has angered many in Alberta over perceived lack of support for a pipeline project that doesn’t exist
thenarwhal.ca
November 21, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Major projects, major problems: anger at Carney’s unclear plans is the real shared national interest, @drewanderson.bsky.social writes:
thenarwhal.ca/alberta-pipe...
thenarwhal.ca/alberta-pipe...
Bill Heidecker president of Alberta Surface Rights Federation on CBC radio this morning.
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.
www.cbc.ca
November 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Bill Heidecker president of Alberta Surface Rights Federation on CBC radio this morning.
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
New Poll: Supermajority of Albertans want oil and gas companies to cover costs of well cleanup, unpaid municipal taxes and landowner rents | Coalition For Responsible Energy (C4RE)
responsibleenergyab.ca/new-poll-sup...
responsibleenergyab.ca/new-poll-sup...
New Poll: Supermajority of Albertans want oil and gas companies to cover costs of well cleanup, unpaid municipal taxes and landowner rents | Coalition For Responsible Energy
Poll Results Data PDF Press Release PDF “Albertans don’t agree on a lot these days,” says pollster Janet Brown, “but our research shows they overwhelmingly want the oil and gas industry to pay their b...
responsibleenergyab.ca
November 21, 2025 at 2:25 AM
New Poll: Supermajority of Albertans want oil and gas companies to cover costs of well cleanup, unpaid municipal taxes and landowner rents | Coalition For Responsible Energy (C4RE)
responsibleenergyab.ca/new-poll-sup...
responsibleenergyab.ca/new-poll-sup...
Here’s a specific example of the lawlessness of MAGA Energy Ltd. filmedthe day before @drewanderson.bsky.social spoke about it on RealRalk with @ryanjespersen.bsky.social
Flaring sour gas in City of Edmonton contrary to licence and AER Directive 060 with no permit. Causes fugitive gas emissions.
Flaring sour gas in City of Edmonton contrary to licence and AER Directive 060 with no permit. Causes fugitive gas emissions.
November 15, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Here’s a specific example of the lawlessness of MAGA Energy Ltd. filmedthe day before @drewanderson.bsky.social spoke about it on RealRalk with @ryanjespersen.bsky.social
Flaring sour gas in City of Edmonton contrary to licence and AER Directive 060 with no permit. Causes fugitive gas emissions.
Flaring sour gas in City of Edmonton contrary to licence and AER Directive 060 with no permit. Causes fugitive gas emissions.
Short video. @drewanderson.bsky.social nailing it.
Many Alberta oil & gas companies aren’t paying landowners or municipal taxes. The Regulator is opaque.
MAGA Energy Ltd. Is one of hundreds of bad actors allowed to run wild at everyone else’s expense.
youtube.com/shorts/GfSGO...
Many Alberta oil & gas companies aren’t paying landowners or municipal taxes. The Regulator is opaque.
MAGA Energy Ltd. Is one of hundreds of bad actors allowed to run wild at everyone else’s expense.
youtube.com/shorts/GfSGO...
Albertans are Getting Screwed!
YouTube video by Real Talk Ryan Jespersen
youtube.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Short video. @drewanderson.bsky.social nailing it.
Many Alberta oil & gas companies aren’t paying landowners or municipal taxes. The Regulator is opaque.
MAGA Energy Ltd. Is one of hundreds of bad actors allowed to run wild at everyone else’s expense.
youtube.com/shorts/GfSGO...
Many Alberta oil & gas companies aren’t paying landowners or municipal taxes. The Regulator is opaque.
MAGA Energy Ltd. Is one of hundreds of bad actors allowed to run wild at everyone else’s expense.
youtube.com/shorts/GfSGO...
Reposted by Mark Dorin
The question arises: did Alberta govt. officials actions - interfering in an @AER_news quasi-judicial tribunal hearing - rise to the crime of obstructing justice under S. 139(2) of the Criminal Code (below)?
Note the definition of “judicial proceeding” describes an AER hearing.
Note the definition of “judicial proceeding” describes an AER hearing.
November 7, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The question arises: did Alberta govt. officials actions - interfering in an @AER_news quasi-judicial tribunal hearing - rise to the crime of obstructing justice under S. 139(2) of the Criminal Code (below)?
Note the definition of “judicial proceeding” describes an AER hearing.
Note the definition of “judicial proceeding” describes an AER hearing.
Highly informed @drewanderson.bsky.social of the @narwhal.bsky.social was on RealTalk hosted by @ryanjespersen.bsky.social this morning. Discussed are news stories by Drew on the current sad state of conventional oil and gas in Alberta
Must watch interview!
www.youtube.com/live/2u2sR4K...
Must watch interview!
www.youtube.com/live/2u2sR4K...
“Big” Oil Betrays Landowners and Taxpayers
YouTube video by Real Talk Ryan Jespersen
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Highly informed @drewanderson.bsky.social of the @narwhal.bsky.social was on RealTalk hosted by @ryanjespersen.bsky.social this morning. Discussed are news stories by Drew on the current sad state of conventional oil and gas in Alberta
Must watch interview!
www.youtube.com/live/2u2sR4K...
Must watch interview!
www.youtube.com/live/2u2sR4K...