Early Engagement and Noise Mitigation
We take great care to proactively engage with communities in advance of new activity, particularly when our sites are in close proximity to residents.
For example, in Oklahoma, this included re-occupying an existing location that now has a subdivision close to the original wells. In advance of activity, we engaged the city government and chamber of commerce to inform them of our development plans and sent notifications to impacted residents within one-quarter mile of the location, including contact details for questions or concerns. When dialogue with residents raised concerns over noise levels, our team responded by installing permanent sound walls around the compressors. We also proactively engaged multiple internal teams to develop a risk-mitigation strategy for sound issues and determined that the best course of action was temporary sound walls during drilling and completions as well as for the first 30 days of production.
Site Lighting Minimization
In response to concerns raised by our neighbors, we have invested considerable resources to minimize our site lighting disturbance in Canadian operating areas, with the goal of keeping the illumination within leased boundaries. On permanent facilities, we continue to explore ways to reduce lighting impacts on-site, starting with facility design.
For our temporary sites, we are working to use fewer generator and light tower combinations to reduce the cumulative impact of light and noise. Addressing lighting concerns must never outweigh the safety and security of our employees, so solutions are assessed carefully on a site-by-site basis.
Truck Traffic Reduction
Pipeline transport allows liquids and natural gas to flow through underground pipes instead of being trucked to different destinations. By reducing our truck traffic, we also decrease our potential for spills, tailpipe emissions, driving accidents, traffic congestion, dust and noise on area rural roads. Where trucking is necessary, we identify preferred routes to support the safety of our employees, contractors and local residents as well as minimize disturbance to surrounding landowners.
Community Outreach
The community engagement team in our Canadian operations hit the streets in early 2022 to re-connect in person with stakeholders across the region. COVID-19 made it difficult to have a physical presence over the past couple of years, but as communities started to reopen, Ovintiv staff were out in the spirit of continuous improvement to do a pulse check with landowners and neighbors. As a team, we were eager to have open conversations about our operations and get feedback from the people where we work and live.
Regulatory Tours
We are committed to ensuring regulators and government officials have a clear and transparent understanding of our operations. We regularly host tours for regulators, policy staff, elected officials and Indigenous partners to facilitate a broader understanding of our industry and showcase Ovintiv’s approach to development. We are proud of the work we do, the way we do it and we understand the value of engaging with a variety of diverse perspectives.
Texas Railroad Commissioner Tour, Midland operations (October 2022) »
Dawson Creek Stakeholder BBQ
Ovintiv sponsored the annual stakeholder BBQ at the Dawson Creek exhibition and Rodeo, which celebrated its 100th year in 2022. The Doig River First Nation Drummers kicked off this year‘s event, which was hosted by our Surface Land, Community Relations and Canadian Operations teams. Approximately 170 people attended, with representation from local First Nations, landowners, government, regulators and first responders.