And then they heard a third blast. It came days after EnCana Energy and the RCMP stepped up security around natural gas facilities in northeastern British Columbia. Pipeline and gas well attacks are being directed at Canada's critical infrastructure, said the RCMP, so the anti-terrorist unit of the national police service, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, took the lead in the investigation.
The attacks occurred on the Calgary-based EnCana Corp. pipeline and infrastructure in the area. Tomslake, B.C., (pop.: 1,000) was closest to the third blast; it happened at a well head about 12 km north of the town. All this quasi-terrorist vandalism is concentrated in the wilderness near the Alberta-British Columbia border. The blasts were set in rural, isolated places away from communities but this does not diminish the gravity of the actions. RCMP investigators believe the bombers are either from Dawson Creek-area or "familiar with the oil and gas industry."
The first two blasts occurred at sites on sour gas pipelines, Oct. 11 and 16 respectively, 2008, about 50 kilometres east of Dawson Creek, B. C.. They came after a newspaper, Dawson Creek Daily News, received a handwritten letter that called for the immediate "shutter" (closure) of oil and gas interests from the area. A third blast came Oct. 31, 2008, and was momentarily dismissed as a halloween prank.
Not for long though. Crews from EnCana were dispatched to close the leak immediately upon detection by a contract worker (12 hours after an explosion was heard) and this leak was caused by the third bomb attack. The crew sealed the well with an infusion of cement and police moved in to investigate.
Northeast B.C. is a booming oil and gas sector; hundreds of wells are drilled each year mostly for natural gas. These are low-tech bomb attacks on the infrastructure but the bombs are causing damage, making noise, and making the gas leak. Two small gas leaks have sprung in the three incidents; other repairs have been required.
At least one pipeline security expert saw increasing sophistication in the acts. Other experts seem to agree that the bombers are knowledgeable about the area and they mean to disrupt the pipelines.
Citizens in and around Dawson Creek have been encouraged to turn in bombing suspects: Members of city council were meeting at extraordinary sessions to discuss security and evacuation preparedness, and one councillor in the wake of the third bombing suggested citizens turn in the person(s) responsible for these dangerous actions.
Councillor Alvin Stedel told media, "We certainly would like (citizens) to turn in the suspects," in the first week of November. The people of a small city and surrounding towns are living on the edge of fear about the spate of bombings. Most of the concerns are obviously related to hydrogen sulphide and other gases escaping the ruptures. So far no threat to public safety has been detected.
Curiously, the gas well explosion of Oct. 31 was reported to police about 12 hours after the fact; RCMP's Sgt. Tim Shields told media "a number of people heard the blast when it occurred, but did not call police with the information." Previous explosions had been along the Encana pipeline route in even more remote locations where it comes out of the ground carrying sour gas. This natural gas needs refinement to extract elements that are dangerous to human and animal health.
Police initially pursued Kelly Lake resident Ian Gladue, 21, as a person of interest, and he was arrested in Alberta on outstanding warrants and returned to Dawson Creek. In late October the RCMP said convicted bomber Wiebo Ludwig (who conducted a long campaign of violence against the program of 'flaring' waste gas) was not a suspect. Ludwig was interviewed by national media, however, and aired his sympathies with the attackers. He remains in the northwest Alberta area with his family.
EnCana is a Calgary-based company and major developer of natural gas in the region. They opened Steep Rock, a $60-million processing facility, in 2006. They operate sour gas pipelines taking feedstock into the facility, and those pipelines have automatic emergency shutdown valves that stop the flow when pressure drops. Apparently this will contain flow from a rupture resulting from an explosion.
The Peace River area is criss-crossed with 'intense' oil and gas activity. Opposition to the rapid pace of development on the B.C. side has also been 'intense'. This summer folks from Tomslake protested on a gas-industry access road; Kelly Lake Cree Nation blockaded a road for two days over safety concerns.
The anonymous writer in Dawson Creek warned, on Oct. 10, "EnCana and all other oil-and-gas interests" must "shutter" their operations near the community of Tomslake and stop the "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands."
The deadline to get out of town was Oct. 11. Two days later a blast crater was found under a sour gas pipeline feeding Steep Rock; then evidence was found of a second blast that caused a small leak that was contained. It was found by workers on Oct. 16 and was set off at an EnCana site steps away from the Alberta/B.C. border, on another sour gas line feeding Steep Rock.
These illegal acts do recall the spate of bombings (six of them, and countless acts of vandalism) in northwest Alberta by Weibo Ludwig in the 1990s. The rationale behind the vandalism may be similar. A lot of people in the area believe the sour-gas wells and developments pose a health risk to humans and livestock.
EnCana spokespeople said they received no warning of violence against their operations. The company has undergone an "extensive increase in security [and] surveillance through a variety of means of our facilities," since the series of attacks began.
Police in Dawson Creek, B.C., continue to investigate while overall concern is rising about the vulnerability of Canada's gas and oil infrastructure.
The first two blasts occurred at sites on sour gas pipelines, Oct. 11 and 16 respectively, 2008, about 50 kilometres east of Dawson Creek, B. C.. They came after a newspaper, Dawson Creek Daily News, received a handwritten letter that called for the immediate "shutter" (closure) of oil and gas interests from the area. A third blast came Oct. 31, 2008, and was momentarily dismissed as a halloween prank.
Not for long though. Crews from EnCana were dispatched to close the leak immediately upon detection by a contract worker (12 hours after an explosion was heard) and this leak was caused by the third bomb attack. The crew sealed the well with an infusion of cement and police moved in to investigate.
Northeast B.C. is a booming oil and gas sector; hundreds of wells are drilled each year mostly for natural gas. These are low-tech bomb attacks on the infrastructure but the bombs are causing damage, making noise, and making the gas leak. Two small gas leaks have sprung in the three incidents; other repairs have been required.
At least one pipeline security expert saw increasing sophistication in the acts. Other experts seem to agree that the bombers are knowledgeable about the area and they mean to disrupt the pipelines.
Citizens in and around Dawson Creek have been encouraged to turn in bombing suspects: Members of city council were meeting at extraordinary sessions to discuss security and evacuation preparedness, and one councillor in the wake of the third bombing suggested citizens turn in the person(s) responsible for these dangerous actions.
Councillor Alvin Stedel told media, "We certainly would like (citizens) to turn in the suspects," in the first week of November. The people of a small city and surrounding towns are living on the edge of fear about the spate of bombings. Most of the concerns are obviously related to hydrogen sulphide and other gases escaping the ruptures. So far no threat to public safety has been detected.
Curiously, the gas well explosion of Oct. 31 was reported to police about 12 hours after the fact; RCMP's Sgt. Tim Shields told media "a number of people heard the blast when it occurred, but did not call police with the information." Previous explosions had been along the Encana pipeline route in even more remote locations where it comes out of the ground carrying sour gas. This natural gas needs refinement to extract elements that are dangerous to human and animal health.
Police initially pursued Kelly Lake resident Ian Gladue, 21, as a person of interest, and he was arrested in Alberta on outstanding warrants and returned to Dawson Creek. In late October the RCMP said convicted bomber Wiebo Ludwig (who conducted a long campaign of violence against the program of 'flaring' waste gas) was not a suspect. Ludwig was interviewed by national media, however, and aired his sympathies with the attackers. He remains in the northwest Alberta area with his family.
EnCana is a Calgary-based company and major developer of natural gas in the region. They opened Steep Rock, a $60-million processing facility, in 2006. They operate sour gas pipelines taking feedstock into the facility, and those pipelines have automatic emergency shutdown valves that stop the flow when pressure drops. Apparently this will contain flow from a rupture resulting from an explosion.
The Peace River area is criss-crossed with 'intense' oil and gas activity. Opposition to the rapid pace of development on the B.C. side has also been 'intense'. This summer folks from Tomslake protested on a gas-industry access road; Kelly Lake Cree Nation blockaded a road for two days over safety concerns.
The anonymous writer in Dawson Creek warned, on Oct. 10, "EnCana and all other oil-and-gas interests" must "shutter" their operations near the community of Tomslake and stop the "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands."
The deadline to get out of town was Oct. 11. Two days later a blast crater was found under a sour gas pipeline feeding Steep Rock; then evidence was found of a second blast that caused a small leak that was contained. It was found by workers on Oct. 16 and was set off at an EnCana site steps away from the Alberta/B.C. border, on another sour gas line feeding Steep Rock.
These illegal acts do recall the spate of bombings (six of them, and countless acts of vandalism) in northwest Alberta by Weibo Ludwig in the 1990s. The rationale behind the vandalism may be similar. A lot of people in the area believe the sour-gas wells and developments pose a health risk to humans and livestock.
EnCana spokespeople said they received no warning of violence against their operations. The company has undergone an "extensive increase in security [and] surveillance through a variety of means of our facilities," since the series of attacks began.
Police in Dawson Creek, B.C., continue to investigate while overall concern is rising about the vulnerability of Canada's gas and oil infrastructure.
