Life in a War Zone

The biggest local headline on October 14th:

RCMP say bomb placed along EnCana pipeline
JOSH WINGROVE
Globe and Mail Update

A hunter discovered a two-metre-wide crater underneath a British Columbia pipeline Sunday that RCMP believe was caused by a bomb.

The blast was discovered early Sunday morning under an EnCana sour gas pipeline in Northeastern B.C., east of Dawson Creek near the Alberta border, RCMP said yesterday. The blast damaged the pipeline, ripping insulation from the 30-centimetre pipe, but didn't rupture it. No gas leaked into the remote area.

The bomb was planted right in an area where the pipeline emerges from the ground at a 45-degree angle, RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields said. RCMP believe the suspected device was deliberately planted, meant to damage the pipeline.

The blast appears to have come just after a threatening note was delivered to a small town newspaper in Chetwynd, B.C., west of Dawson Creek. The letter, delivered Saturday, urged local energy companies to pack up and leave the area. Though the affected area was sparsely populated and the damage limited, RCMP are taking the explosion seriously.

"This is a very remote area. There are no people around. Having said that, it is still serious because of the type of gas in the pipe," Sgt. Shields said.

Police don't know who might have planted the device, but there is a "significant sentiment" opposing gas and oil developments among the long-tenured members of the rural community, Sgt. Shields said. Dawson Creek Mayor Calvin Kruk said he wasn't aware of any opposition in his community.

The hunter said he'd passed through the same area a day earlier, and there'd been no crater then, leading police to believe the blast happened late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning.

Several RCMP units are investigating, including the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team. They're appealing for any witnesses to come forward, and urging workers in the region's booming oil and gas sector to keep an eye out for potential saboteurs. RCMP investigators will continue to work to figure out what type of device was planted.

"All we have is the crater and we don't know what type of explosion caused it," Sgt. Shields said.

And then today...

RCMP probes second B.C. pipeline blast
THE CANADIAN PRESS

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. – RCMP are investigating a second explosion targeting a gas pipeline near Dawson Creek, on the B.C.-Alberta border.

The natural gas pipeline is owned by Encana (TSX: ECA).

"The explosion appears to be a deliberate act that left a crater in the ground under the pipeline which was damaged but did not rupture," Sgt. Tim Shields says in a statement.

"It appears the explosion was likely detonated some time overnight."

The blast site was discovered by pipeline workers at about 9 a.m. Thursday morning along the pipeline off Highway 2, about half a kilometre from the Alberta border.

RCMP say the incident seems to be related to one earlier this week when a sour gas pipeline owned by Encana was hit.

Another bomb exploded overnight last Saturday beside a sour gas line owned by EnCana, about 50 kilometres east of Dawson Creek, B.C.

The explosion left a small crater under the line but EnCana said the line didn't rupture and no gas was released.

No one has taken responsibility for the bombing, although the RCMP believe it may be related to a letter sent to local media outlets, which demanded oil and gas projects be shut down by Saturday.

"We will no longer negotiate with terrorists which you are as you keep endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands," said the anonymous letter, parts of which were published by the Dawson Creek Daily News.

Many critics of sour gas development fear the gas – which contains hydrogen sulphide and can be fatal if inhaled – poses a danger to people nearby.

Police are asking oil and gas workers in the area to remain extra vigilant and make note of anyone who seems suspicious.

I guess it's an understatement when I say that most people out in my area are feeling pretty unnerved about all the recent anti-oil and gas activity. Especially people who make their living off the plant they seem to be targetting. Being that my mom is their contract janitor and I'm currently in the running for Steeprock's administrative assistant position, we're both a little pissed off.

I love the fact that the anonymous letter writer refers to the oil and gas companies as 'terrorists' but has no qualms about setting explosives off aimed to rupture a sour gas pipeline that could either blow out a 20 sq km area (complete with all occupants -- man, bird or deer) or could cause deadly H2S releases into the atmosphere and all over the outlying community. What a brilliant way to object to something -- put all your neighbours' lives in jeopardy.

Then this morning when farmer Tom called and let us know about the second explosion (less than 10 km from our front doorstep) and subsequent evacuation alert it got even more personal.

If you are the illiterate moron who is so selfish enough to take the lives of all your neighbours, friends and community members (that is, if you're even a TOMSLAKE -- that's right, one word -- resident) into your hands and play God with them, then I pray that a local father of young children finds you before the authorities do.

I refuse to live in fear of you, but I also refuse to accept this without comment.

This is not the way to get what you want.