Metro News
SOUTHWEST MIDDLESEX, Ont. - For decades, the Murray family of southern Ontario has lived on a rare luxury - they've heated their household for free.
But a government order is now demanding that the couple in their 70s shut down a 1931 natural gas well on their property, and the two will have to cough up tens of thousands of dollars to cap the historic well.
"We got something we're not paying for so there's no money generated and so they want to close it," said Hector Murray, 73, wearily shrugging off the three-year battle, as he resigned himself to the loss.
"It's as if I've committed a crime and this is the punishment."
In this case, according to Murray, the crime is free fuel.
The giant grey well, slightly rusted with age, is nestled amongst bushes in the woods metres from the Murray farm home near Newbury, Ont. It has provided free natural gas to generations of Murray's family.
Bundled up in a hat, gloves and a jacket, Murray marches through leaves as he approaches the well, and gently touches its surface, an old relic to some, but still a functioning piece of machinery to Murray.
"I don't see any change in it," he says, smiling.
Crude oil and natural gas have been a unique discovery to southwestern Ontario. In an Ontario village that came to be known as Oil Springs, James Miller Williams dug North America's first commercial oil well in 1858, touching off a continental oil rush and making the area the birthplace of the modern oil business.
Currently, the province has at least 450 licensed private gas wells on farms or properties. However, thousands of unlicensed wells could exist, because many are so old the government has no records.
The well beyond Murray's farm was sold by a drilling company to area farmers in 1931 and it has provided natural gas since.
Years ago, the well provided gas to four farms but recently only two houses have been connected to the well.
A barrage of letters from the government ordering the owners to cap the well forced the remaining family to seek out an alternative heat source.
On Wednesday, Murray finally succumbed to the pressure and installed a geothermal heating source, effectively giving up on the well.
The pump on the well needed fixing and Murray said it would be a waste to make repairs, only to see the well close months from now.
"I'm running out of heat. No hot water," said Murray, with an exasperated laugh. He's tired, defeated and has another battle on his hands - he's fighting leukemia.
The squabble over the well began several years ago after Murray and his wife Marjorie were told they were operating the well illegally and had to apply for a permit. However, after they applied for it they received an abrupt notice to close the well.
"They didn't tell us the permit was to close it. They just said we needed a permit to operate it," said Murray, who says he's still shocked by the decision.
"They never did give a definite reason why, other than to say it can pollute the groundwater around it," said Murray, adding he never saw a report on the issue.
"It's a mystery to us."
A series of terse orders finally demanded that the couple plug the well, stating a "failure to comply with this order will result in further enforcement actions."
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Natural Resources could not comment on the specific case, but said the province is looking into the matter.
According to some experts, natural gas can be dangerous if it's delivered on a local level.
Theresa McClenaghan, executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association, says if natural gas finds a way into drinking water it becomes an issue, because the gas contains hydrocarbons.
"In the short term, they may cause relatively minor issues like headaches and nausea but over the long term, hydrocarbons are known to be carcinogenic," said McClenaghan, adding fractured bedrock or fractured limestone could carry natural gas to drinking water.
Capping the well will cost the Murrays more than $15,000. It's money the two had been stockpiling for holidays and necessities.
"We'll just have to cut down on some of the essentials," said Murray, who has cancelled a trip to Holland after paying for his new heating system.
"I'm very upset. The well is sitting back there and it's a good source of heat."