Crew continuously strives to minimize the disturbance of land, wildlife, and water and remains dedicated to seeking innovative ways to protect the areas around our operations.
From the early planning stages, we are mindful of cultural and environmental sensitives and maintain this awareness throughout the project’s life cycle.
Our approach to protecting biodiversity and reducing the physical impact of our operations starts with prioritizing the environment over convenience and location preferences. We engage in ongoing consultations with stakeholders, conduct emergency response training for spill and incident preparedness, and implement proactive monitoring and asset integrity policies to uphold responsible operational practices.
“Crew understands and appreciates the importance of cultural perspectives on the lands we operate. We are actively engaged with communities and embrace the opportunity for continued education and growth.”
– Casey Petras, Surface Land Coordinator, with Crew for 15 years
Strategies to Protect Land and Biodiversity
Pad Design
We are committed to minimizing our surface footprint by adopting resource development practices that prioritize environmental stewardship. To achieve this, we drill ERH wells, which reduce the number of well pads required to access a reservoir. This approach enables us to access larger areas from a single well pad, reducing land, habitat, and wildlife disturbance, infrastructure development, and capital costs associated with our operations.
- In 2022, our average horizontal well reached 3,500 m, and to date, we’ve successfully drilled ERH wells as long as 4,275 m.
- At Crew’s 3-32 pad, we effectively accessed >1,300 hectares of underground reserves, with just 3.8 hectares of surface footprint.
Additionally, we employ various techniques, such as fiber optic monitoring and tracers, to enhance our understanding of critical parameters and gather real-time data during fracturing. Fiber optic monitoring allows us to continuously monitor pressure, temperature, and fluid flow, providing valuable insights into fracture growth and propagation, while tracers enable us to track fluid movement, assess fracture connectivity, and evaluate the effectiveness and safety of our hydraulic fracturing operations. Using this technology also leads to reducing surface footprint impacts by appropriate placing well pads to minimize additional disturbance.
Induced Seismicity
Mitigation of induced seismicity is taken seriously. We integrate discussions about seismicity into our project planning stages, ensuring that it remains a key consideration throughout the entire lifecycle of our operations.
We proactively monitor for seismic events, assess associated risks, and conduct regular project meetings to review and address any possible seismic concerns. This commitment extends to engaging with stakeholders, including local communities, regulatory bodies, and area operators, to ensure transparency and foster open communication. Crew works closely with the BCER to discuss our upcoming completion activities and review mitigation plans. Additionally, Crew meets with BC Hydro to review upcoming completions, examine past activity, and discuss induced seismicity monitoring at a minimum once a year.
Our operations in the Greater Septimus and Tower areas are within the boundary of the BCER’s Kiskatinaw Seismic Monitoring & Mitigation Area, an area that has increased operating requirements associated with hydraulic fracturing and the possibility of low to moderate-level seismicity. We engage and collaborate with the B.C. Induced Seismicity Working Group to:
- Assist in the determination of operational protocols in this region
- Educate community stakeholders about our engineering practices for managing induced seismicity risks
Technology plays an integral part in monitoring induced seismicity at Crew. We use accelerometers to directly measure ground motion and seismometers to monitor and analyze current and historical seismic activity. Leveraging this technology helps assist us in estimating future-induced seismicity risk associated with our operations.
- Crew maintains 13 seismometers, three force balance accelerometers, and has access to over ten public stations.
- Crew has had zero reports of felt-induced seismicity events since 2017.
Biodiversity Assessments
Crew recognizes the importance of assessing and preserving biodiversity in the areas where we operate. To achieve this, we employ various tools and strategies to minimize our impact and promote responsible resource development.
- Site Assessments: We conduct these activities to evaluate and understand the existing environmental conditions and ecological characteristics of the site and determine its suitability for development.
- Environmental Consultants: We engage the expertise of professional environmental consultants to identify potential wildlife concerns and provide valuable insights into appropriate mitigation measures to safeguard specific species and habitats, including mammals, waterfowl, migrating birds, ungulates, fish-bearing waters, and protected vegetation.
- Noise Assessments: We conduct these activities, when required, to evaluate and manage potential noise impacts on the surrounding environment.
- Ongoing Monitoring: We utilize instrumentation and monitoring systems to proactively detect and prevent fluid releases that could adversely affect the land, habitats, and ecology surrounding our sites.
Community Partnerships
We continuously engage with First Nation communities, regulatory bodies such as the British Columbia Energy Regulator (“BCER”) and WorkSafe B.C., local governments, and community partners to remain transparent and accountable for our operations.
Crew operates within 5km of Worth Marsh, a sensitive wetland near Crew’s West Septimus operations, on lands owned by The Nature Trust of British Columbia and managed by Ducks Unlimited. Recognizing the sensitivities of Worth Marsh and identified springs, we have specifically included these areas in our corporate ERP spill response and perform regular assessments, measurements, and tests of the wetland. To further strengthen our relationship with The Nature Trust of British Columbia and highlight our operational excellence and environmental stewardship, we host an annual field tour.
“Crew has engaged with The Nature Trust of British Columbia since 2014, when they began working in the same area of northeast BC that we conserve land for fish and wildlife habitat. We have been very pleased with our interactions with Crew staff. They communicate proactively and openly regarding projects in the vicinity of our conservation lands. They are always forthcoming in providing relevant information and in answering any questions that the Nature Trust has had regarding Crew’s operations. We very much appreciate Crew’s demonstrated respect for our values and objectives as a land conservation organization. The Nature Trust of British Columbia looks forward to continuing this collaborative relationship with a shared goal of long-term sustainability across the landscape.”
– The Nature Trust of British Columbia
