Our planning group, led by Dr. Anhua Wei, has been working with regulators, producers and consulting firms for the past 15 years providing expertise in the areas of wetland, wildlife and GIS/remote sensing services. Dr. Wei holds a Ph.D in Ecology and a GIS Specialist Certificate from McMaster University. His educational background and knowledge of wetland policy is an asset when assisting clients in acquiring regulatory approval for developments in environmentally sensitive areas.
Client benefits:
Dr. Wei’s extensive knowledge of wetland ecosystems along with his GIS expertise provides Aurora’s client base a streamlined approach to acquiring licensing and regulatory approvals on both public and private lands. Aurora’s land group is able to provide our clients one point of contact while completing land and environmental planning scopes of work.
Aurora’s expertise is able to accurately define wetland boundaries, making field assessments more focused and cost effective and assists clients in siting their facilities in areas that reduce environmental impact and the cost of reclamation.
Aurora provides a wide range of Biophysical Services to meet the environmental needs of projects in all sectors including Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Utilities, Sand & Gravel, Forestry, Solar, Wind, and Municipalities. Click below to contact us and learn more about how Aurora can assist with your project.
Are you looking to set up a facility to manage hydrovac waste? Whether it is an AEP or AER regulated activity Aurora is experienced with all the regulator approvals required for you to get your facility operational. If you are looking for direction on setting up your facility, please contact us.
Aurora provides environmental professionals with diverse backgrounds who are experienced with projects located on Indian Oil and Gas (IOGC) regulated lands. Aurora effectively completes your environmental audits to ensure that the surface lease meets IOGC’s Environmental Protection Terms Letter and other applicable provincial and federal Acts, Regulations, Directives, Guidelines and Information Letters pertaining to upstream oil and gas sites.
Aurora works with aboriginal communities using traditional knowledge and employing local contractors to assist our clients in promoting a positive relationship when working on IOGC regulated lands.
Aurora offers horizontal directional drilling supervision and environmental monitoring services to ensure the outcomes and requirements are met during all phases of your project. Examples of Aurora’s Environmental Monitoring services are listed below:
Across Canada’s western provinces the liability associated with the oil and gas industry has been a hot button topic. With depressed commodity prices and poor infrastructure available to get product to market, it has been difficult for companies to successfully operate. Companies are looking to reduce their operational costs and the associated liabilities on producing assets in order to create enough cash flow to clean up historical liabilities while still putting some money in the bank. Aurora Environmental offers cradle to grave services, with a robust land and regulatory team to an experienced environment team we effectively and efficiently assess and manage client liabilities. Our strength is listening to our clients’ technical and financial needs then executing with a high degree of professionalism. For new developments, our goal is to assist our clients in achieving regulatory approval while limiting the associated liability. For historical liabilities we lean on our senior personnel to work with regulators and industry to find the most cost-effective solutions to liability reduction.
Our liability management team is led by Meridith Ball, Sean Fuller and Devin Mielke, who have a combined 65 years of industry experience.
Meridith worked with Husky Energy on their asset retirement team for 15 years prior to starting up an environmental service arm with Sean at Aurora. Her understanding of producer operations and regulatory requirements allows Aurora to provide our clients cost effective solutions towards reducing their liability.
Sean’s experience consulting has exposed him to all aspects of the oil and gas industry, from planning and approvals, drilling waste management, environmental monitoring, well head testing to final remediation and reclamation. His understanding of the full life of a well is an asset at the planning stages right through to coming up with effective strategies to achieve site closure.
Devin worked for Husky Energy for the past twenty years, filling various roles related to minimizing liability through construction, reclamation, remediation, and acquisitions and divestitures. He is a Professional Agrologist and licensed land agent who brings a wealth of knowledge in the areas of stakeholder engagement, area-based closure programs and contractor management.
Aurora provides industry leading consulting services to assist clients in executing on their reclamation programs. Our management team and staff have decades of experience in developing reclamation plans for all land uses (cultivated, forested, native grassland and peatland, and mineral wetlands). Our team works with the client and regulator in order to develop a clear cost-effective path to achieve regulatory closure. The Aurora team has a wealth of experience working with clients in all stages of reclamation from development, implementation, supervision and assessment. Aurora’s experience in stakeholder engagement has proven an asset in moving your liabilities to final closure.
Our experienced team of Professional Agrologists, Biologists and Engineers are well equipped to meet all of your Project’s reclamation needs. We have experience with full reclamation of sites from southeastern Saskatchewan to Northeastern British Columbia and have a proven track record of success working with stakeholders including landowners, NGO’s, Parks and the Provincial and/or Federal Government for Crown sites. Our reclamation planners are able to achieve timely closure of your liabilities.
Our team of experienced professionals have experience completing detailed site assessments throughout Western Canada and have been involved in developing regulatory standards in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. Our team of reclamation professionals are efficient in the field, courteous with landowners and other stakeholders and conduct their work to meet the highest level of safety.
Aurora staff have a demonstrated success with regulatory site closure throughout western Canada. We prepare accurate, efficient application documents and submit via IRIS or OneStop and provide our clients assurance that no requirement is missed when it comes to releases, reports, professional justifications or any other. Our historical application success rate is 99%.
Aurora can provide a full suite of Construction and Reclamation Monitoring and Supervision expertise. Our field supervisors are well versed and have a tremendous amount of practical experience achieving reclamation success despite difficult ground disturbance, crowded sites, sites with problem soils and invasive weeds. Each consultant has over 10 years of experience building and/or reclaiming well sites and pipelines on forested, cultivated and native prairie land uses. At Aurora our strength is working with clients, regulators and stakeholders to establish a clear pathway to achieve regulatory closure in a cost-effective timely manner. Our team is diverse with experience working in house with oil and gas producers and as environmental consultants.
Aurora provides experienced staff and consultants working in all areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan. We provide quick turnaround and experienced cost-effective professional service, whether it is managing a single well from Abandonment to Phase I ESA through to reclamation certification or a multi-well area-based closure program. Aurora focuses on creating clear communication pathways in order to execute on projects with a high standard of delivery, listening to our clients’ needs to achieve company objectives.
Aurora provides a wide range of Remediation Services to meet the environmental needs of projects in all sectors including Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Utilities, Sand & Gravel, Forestry and Municipalities. Our core Remediation/Environmental Assessment Services include:
Our experienced team of Professional Agrologists and Biologists are well equipped to meet all of your Project’s remediation needs. We provide a wide array of soil services for all phases of a project from the initial Phase I ESA for upstream oil and gas or commercial projects, through the Phase II, Remedial Action Plan and final remediation project with all associated reporting. We have completed thousands of Phase I ESA’s for our clients and would love to help you with yours.
Aurora can provide a full suite of Phase II Environmental Site Assessment services including planning, supervision and project management. Our staff are well versed in regulatory requirements from CCME and each Province in which our clients operate and have experience with alternative site closure mechanisms from pathway exclusion to SST to Native Prairie Protocol. We will work with our clients to minimize the expense and environmental risk associated with unnecessary remediation.
Our team of experienced professionals have experience with a multitude of remediation technologies including in in situ remediation, bioremediation and others and can recommend the method with lowest cost and most likely success for your individual site and constituent. We have experienced project managers that can handle even the biggest project or tightest budget.
Aurora staff have been successful in remediating and obtaining site closure from thousands of sites throughout western Canada. We are able to put our experience to work selecting site appropriate guidelines, working with the regulators if required and completing the reporting required to obtain stakeholder buy in and regulatory site closure.
Experience operating geospatial databases.
Experience applying artificial intelligence concepts in the field of geomatics.
Experience manipulating, analyzing, processing and interpreting satellite imagery, RADAR data and LiDAR data.
Aurora Land Consulting supports abandonment programs for our clients by providing access scouting, inventory documentation, gas migration and surface casing vent flow testing, reclamation budgeting and Phase I ESAs as an all-in-one service. We consistently provide senior staff to our clients that are knowledgeable in the areas of environmental regulations, reclamation construction and well casing integrity in order to reduce our clients cost by combining several assessments into one site visit. Our experienced staff can cost effectively assess client liabilities to prioritize locations that are slated for regulatory closure.
Since 2017 we have been able to assess over 1,800 locations combining these services at a significant cost saving to our clients.
Aurora has specialized expertise in the assessment, evaluation, and classification of gas migrations (GM) and surface casing vent flows (SCVF). Aurora is currently testing around 1,000 wells per year and having dedicated personnel with over 15,000 wells of experience, we have likely seen every scenario imaginable and tested in all conditions western Canada has to offer.
With services ranging from basic bubble tests to GPS recorded infrared soil gas surveys, digital flow/pressure/temperature logging, and remote data collection, Aurora can customize our testing to fit your needs.
For the purpose of asset retirement, Aurora can package GM & SCVF testing with our comprehensive, cost-effective, and rig-ready site assessments that will have you know all the important details before you ever dispatch, including:
With our senior staff completing the work and having knowledge and experience in so many different aspects of the end-of-life process, we can get all the necessary information gathered in a single site visit, saving money, speeding up timelines, and limiting liability by reducing the number of people going to site and hours spent on the road.
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Sean Fuller has twenty years of oil and gas industry experience and fifteen years of environmental and executive management under his belt along with expertise in reclamation, remediation, environmental planning, environmental compliance, permitting, and drilling waste management. He has overseen environmental programs ranging in size from small single well cleanups to large scale reclamation, remediation, drilling waste and environmental planning programs. Sean has successfully overseen projects involving regulatory bodies throughout Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
Meridith Ball has twenty years of oil and gas industry experience 15 of which has been with Husky Energy overseeing teams of up to 200 field and office personnel for abandonment, reclamation and remediation programs in Western Canada. Meridith has experience with oil sands developments including OSE programs as well as pipeline planning and regulatory approvals. With a Bachelor’s degree in Soils and Biotic Geography together with Project Management training and experience, Meridith is able to deliver results on a variety of projects from pre-development to site closure. Meridith also has experience developing and implementing many best management practices for Upstream Oil and Gas and has 10 years of compliance and environmental auditing experience with federal and provincial jurisdictions as well as corporate and industry best practices.
Manuel Oppel brings over 10 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry with a focus on gas migration, surface casing vent flow and packer isolation testing as well as drilling waste disposal. Manuel is a Professional Engineer with APEGA with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with Environmental Engineering option from the University of Alberta. During his career, Manuel has worked with Drilling, Production and Abandonment groups to characterize casing integrity throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. He is actively involved with the Well Integrity & Abandonment Society, a community dedicated to designing and maintaining wellbore integrity, and also APEGA’s Elementary Science Nights to promote engineering and geoscience to elementary students.
Regional Liability Manager based out of our Lloydminster office. Devin brings with him a wealth of expertise, gained over the past 20 years during his tenure at Husky Energy. While at Husky, Devin held numerous supervisory positions related to minimizing liability through construction, reclamation, remediation, acquisitions and divestitures. Devin is also a Professional Agrologist and licensed Land Agent, skilled in stakeholder engagement, area based closure programs and contractor management.
Anhua Wei has fifteen years of experience and education in the fields of aquatic and terrestrial ecology, statistics, GIS, and remote sensing. He obtained his Masters of Science and Ph.D in Wetland Ecology, and a GIS Specialist Certification from McMaster University. Anhua is a member in good standing of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists and is a member of the wetland practice area committee. Anhua has a wealth of experience in academic, industrial, and public sectors. He has worked as a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow with McMaster University in Hamilton, NSERC Visiting Fellow with Canada Centre for Remote Sensing in Ottawa, Geospatial Analyst/GIS Specialist with Environment and Natural Resources, the Government of Northwest Territories in Inuvik, and Wildlife Research Biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Peterborough. Within the oil and gas industry, Anhua has experience with Cenovus Energy in Calgary where he was a Senior Environmental Advisor working on a range of land, wildlife, and wetland issues. Anhua is the Team Lead for Aurora’s environmental planning group providing technical expertise in relation to wetland, watercourse, wildlife, culvert design for fish passage, aquatic and GIS environmental services. Read Anhua Wei’s peer-reviewed research papers
Vice President of Administration Services, Kerri Eckstadt has 25 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and has been with Aurora since 2005. Kerri has extensive experience in all aspects of Crown and Freehold Land Acquisition including Oil Sands Exploration programs in Northern Alberta, with a large focus on large scale linear pipeline projects throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan since 2013. Kerri possesses a vast amount of knowledge and demonstrates exceptional leadership skills.
Josh Vass has fourteen years of oil and gas industry experience and over nine years of managing major linear pipeline projects. Josh has successfully overseen projects involving regulatory bodies, both federally and provincially, throughout Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan and has managed over 3,100 km of pipeline projects. An experienced leader with demonstrated success in directing land times for major pipeline projects and integrity & operations projects in Canada.
Corey Nordin has 25+ years of oil and gas industry experience, 15 years of that with Aurora Land. Corey has extensive experience in Freehold and Crown Acquisition. He has focused on Crown acquisition through the province whether it be an OSE program, Thermal Padsite or Major Linear Project to ensure clients are compliant and get approvals in a timely fashion. He works closely with clients, surveyors & environment teams to place/route projects to meet clients’needs and regulatory requirements. He has close ties to AER, ACO & AEP where he has been part of Industry Groups to develop systems and guidelines. Corey is team player that enjoys a challenge and working to complete a task.
Lainie Nordin has over 22 years’ experience in surface land administration and project coordination. Her resume includes all aspects of freehold and Crown acquisition with regards to conventional oil & gas, Oil Sands Exploration projects, as well as the larger Linear Projects. Her current contract role as a Crossings Analyst has helped round out her vast experience with third party request reviews and issuance. With this she has gained a great working knowledge in both the technical and legal review of all crossings related requests.
Shane Nordin is Aurora Land Consulting’s fearless Leader. Shane started his career as a Land Agent in 1997, joined Aurora in 2005 and bought the company in 2007 with his wife Lainie. Shane has been the face for our clients in the Field, with a keen ability to establish and nurture relationships based on trust and shared values with landowners, municipalities, regulators and special interest groups alike. As a Leader, he trusts in, and is loyal to his team, acting with integrity and respect in all things. Aurora’s growth under Shane’s Leadership has seen the company expand exponentially, serving more clients, project teams and industries in Western Canada today than ever before.