Third blast rocks B.C. pipeline

WENDY STUECK
Globe and Mail
October 31, 2008

VANCOUVER — A third attack has been discovered on a pipeline in the Dawson Creek area of northeastern British Columbia.

The target was a natural gas wellhead about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, a small town near Dawson Creek.

A small amount of gas leaked, but the public is not in danger, the RCMP said in a statement. EnCana engineers were containing the leak, and the blast was in a rural, isolated area.

The blast site was discovered about 12:30 p.m. PT Friday.

RCMP explosive experts investigate a bomb explosion at an EnCana sour gas pipeline near Dawson Creek, B.C., Oct. 17, 2008.

EnCana spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari said there was “very minimal damage.”

“There are residents in the area but no one even living close enough that they would fall into our emergency response plan,” she said.

EnCana community representative Brian Lieverse, reached as he was driving to the scene, would not speculate on whether it was industrial sabotage or a Halloween prank.

“We are concerned,” Mr. Lieverse said.

The first two blasts occurred in October after local newspapers received a handwritten letter demanding that oil and gas interests leave the area.

Although residents had been on edge over the possibility of another attack, news of the damage at the third site still came as a surprise, said Cliff Calliou, chief of the nearby Kelly Lake Cree Nation.

“I was surprised; it is a surprise that someone would do that,” said Mr. Calliou, who lives in Kelly Lake, a small community in an area criss-crossed by pipelines.

“It's someone going and challenging the law, and it's really a serious matter.”

The attacks have targeted EnCana pipelines that carry sour gas – natural gas that contains hydrogen sulphide, which has a characteristic rotten-egg smell at lower concentrations and can be lethal at higher concentrations.

Several Kelly Lake residents have been questioned in connection with the pipeline investigation, Mr. Calliou said.

Members of the blast investigation team last week travelled to Alberta to arrest a man on outstanding B.C. warrants. The RCMP have not said whether the man, 21-year-old Kelly Lake resident Ian Gladue, is a suspect or a person of interest in the investigation.

The attacks have resulted in both EnCana and RCMP stepping up security around natural gas facilities.

Calgary-based EnCana is a major player in the region. The company's Steeprock plant, a $60-million processing facility opened in 2006, was the biggest such plant to be built in B.C. in a decade.

EnCana has been operating in the area for about 14 years. The company says its sour gas pipelines are equipped with automatic emergency shutdown valves that would “shut in,” or contain, an affected part of a pipeline if a change in pressure – from, for example, a rupture resulting from an explosion – were detected.

The RCMP's anti-terrorist unit, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, has taken the lead in the investigation because the attacks were directed at Canada's critical infrastructure, the force says.

In October, the RCMP took the unusual step of ruling out convicted bomber Wiebo Ludwig as a suspect, after media reports quoted Mr. Ludwig saying that he had spoken to police and was not a suspect in the investigation.

Mr. Ludwig lives on a commune-style property near Hythe, close to the B.C.-Alberta boundary and about an hour's drive from the area where the recent blasts occurred.

He was released from jail in 2001 after serving 19 months of a 28-month sentence for charges related to bombings and other vandalism of oil and gas wells in Alberta in the 1990s.

The attacks have brought back memories of Mr. Ludwig's anti-industry campaign in Alberta and triggered speculation there could be some connection between him and the incidents in B.C.

The Peace River area has been the focus of intense oil and gas activity for the past several years, with BP Canada planning to drill 132 new wells near Kelly Lake and the building of EnCana's $60-million Steep Rock gas plant in 2006. Along with all this activity have come growing concerns voiced by area residents.

Landowners near the hamlet of Tomslake, 28 kilometres south of Dawson Creek, protested on a gas-industry access road this summer and the Kelly Lake Cree Nation blockaded a road for two days to underline their safety concerns.

Investigators are at the latest blast site and the RCMP have set up a tip line in relation to the investigation.

With a report from The Canadian Press

Pipeline bomber sets off 3rd blast

Latest brazen attack in isolated area baffles landowners

EDMONTON - A third explosion site was discovered Friday near the Alberta-British Columbia border, close to the site of two earlier bombings that targeted EnCana sour gas pipelines.

It's not clear when the deliberately set explosion occurred at the isolated natural gas wellhead about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, near Dawson Creek, B.C.

There was no danger to the public.

Oil and gas pipeline owners expressed frustration over the third pipeline attack in the region in less than a month.

"We condemn clearly what is a criminal and cowardly act that has no place in a civilized society," said Jeff Angel, a spokesman for the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.

Since the two earlier October bombings, oil and gas companies have increased security.

Landowners who live close to the latest explosion were baffled that someone would be so brazen to attack a site with such heightened security.

Jim Zacharias, who lives near the targeted wellhead, said access to the area is only available through a private road that's had a man in a pickup truck stationed at its entrance 24 hours a day since the last two bombings.

"He's there when I go to bed and he's still there when I wake up," he said. "So whoever came in and did this, I don't think they could have come in from the road."

An EnCana contractor was driving by the site around noon Friday when he heard a small leak from the well.

Workers later found a "small amount of damage" to the wellhead and to some of the area surrounding it, EnCana spokeswoman Rhona DelFrari said.

The leak was stabilized Friday night to the low-volume, low-flow wellsite, which contained natural gas with trace amounts of hydrogen sulphide, which can be deadly. No hydrogen sulphide was detected by air-quality monitors, she said.

"At no point was the public ever at risk," she said.

The pipeline was expected to continue leaking small amounts of gas overnight. Engineers will assess the pipeline again early today.

Investigators from the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team were already in the area investigating the two previous bombings.

Dawson Creek Coun. Bud Powell said it was bold move to strike a pipeline, considering a specialized anti-terrorism police team is in the area hunting for the suspect in the two previous bombings.

"To hit the pipeline again is pretty serious," he said.

While some residents were anxious after the previous pipeline bombings, concerns have dwindled in the past few weeks, he said.

Two bomb sites were found in October after an unsigned, handwritten letter was sent to the Dawson Creek Daily News warning EnCana to close operations and leave the Tomslake area by noon on Oct. 11. "We will not negotiate with terrorists, which you are as you keep on endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our homelands," the letter stated.

The first blast site was found Oct. 12 On Oct. 16, a second bomb was detonated under a pipeline, leaving a crater that caused a minor leak that was quickly contained. Some residents expected attacks to continue and were surprised that there was a lull in activity until Friday's discovery.

slillebuen@thejournal.canwest.com

Third explosion rocks pipeline in eastern B.C.

CTV News has learned that the pipeline infrastructure in northeastern British Columbia has been hit by yet another explosion.

CTV has learned that a third explosion has rocked northeastern B.C.'s pipeline infrastructure.

Sources have told CTV that the latest explosion occurred in an area about 12 kilometres northeast of Tomslake, just west of the B.C./Alberta border.

Police say it was discovered at an EnCana natural gas well head containing sour gas at 12.30 p.m. on Friday. It appears to have been deliberately set, police added.

Word of the blast comes on the heels of two explosions, which targeted pipelines operated by EnCana near the B.C.-Alberta border in recent weeks. The first was on Oct. 11, the second on Oct. 16.

The RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team has arrived at the scene of this latest blast, which caused a small gas leak that is currently being contained.

Lisa Richmond lives about two kilometres from the well head blast. Oct. 31, 2008.

While police say the public is not in any danger, it appears that this is another attack on the pipeline sector in B.C.'s Peace River area.

Last week, the RCMP's anti-terrorism unit arrested a 21-year-old man from Kelly Lake, B.C. He remains in custody but has not been charged in connection with the pipeline bombings.

Local residents shaken

Police say he is being held for unrelated and as yet unspecified matters.

Residents, who live in the vicinity of the Encana well head, were shaken up by news of this latest blast.

"They really need to get the guy before someone gets hurt,'' said Lisa Richmond. "It's bad enough when it happens 10 or 15 kilometres away,'' she said. "But it's really scary when it's right in your own back yard.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington

3rd pipeline explosion in northeastern B.C. this month

EnCana pipeline targeted again

RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields said the explosion on Friday appeared to have been deliberately detonated.

Another explosion hit an EnCana Corp. sour-gas pipeline in B.C. Friday afternoon, this time near the small community of Tomslake, south of Dawson Creek near the Alberta border, the RCMP said.

"The site of an explosion was discovered at a natural gas wellhead at approximately 12:30 p.m. today," Sgt. Tim Shields said in a news release Friday.

"The site is about 12 kilometres northwest of the community of Tomslake … The explosion appears to have been deliberately detonated and is located in a rural isolated area," he said.

The explosion caused a small gas leak that was quickly contained by EnCana engineers.

The leak did not pose any danger to the public, and there is no report of any injuries, Shields said.

Members of the RCMP Integrated National Security Enforcement Team are at the scene.

'Right now I am very scared. I don't know what to do. I've been trying to find my family, load them up and get out of here.'— Eric Kuenzl, Tomslake resident

A contract worker discovered the gas leak at the well site and informed operations engineers, EnCana said in a news release Friday.

EnCana has notified the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission about the latest incident.

"Given the two previous vandalism events earlier this month in the region, EnCana immediately contacted the RCMP, and officers are at the scene investigating the cause of the leak and whether it is connected to the previous pipeline explosions in the region," the release said.

It's the third sour-gas pipeline explosion targeting EnCana's infrastructure in northeastern B.C. this month. All three have been in the same general area, but police have not determined whether Friday's blast is linked with the other two, which took place on Oct. 11 and Oct. 16.

A threatening letter was sent to Dawson Creek media prior to the first explosion. The letter called Encana, which is based in Calgary, and other energy companies "terrorists" for expanding deadly gas wells and gave the companies a deadline to shut down their operations.

Tomslake resident Eric Kuenzl said he only heard about the Friday blast from the media.

"Right now I am very scared. I don't know what to do. I've been trying to find my family, load them up and get out of here," Kuenzl told CBC News in a telephone interview.

He said local authorities should have notified nearby residents immediately after the explosion.

"Our own people wouldn't tell us what was going on here and apparently this happened at about 12:30 this afternoon. What took until six o'clock for the world to tell us about what's going on?" Kuenzl said.

Third gas pipeline bombed in B.C.

Natural gas wellhead bombed near Dawson Creek; police say 'no danger to public safety'

OTTAWA - The third explosion in a month targeting sour-gas pipelines in northern British Columbia is scaring people in a nearby community who say they weren't warned toxic gas began leaking Friday afternoon.

Around 12:30 p.m. an explosion site was discovered at a natural-gas wellhead, about 12 kilometres northwest of Tomslake, near Dawson Creek, B.C.

The RCMP say the explosion - at the Encana-owned pipeline in a rural, isolated area - appears to be a deliberate act.

The leak is not a danger to the public, officials say.

An Encana spokesman told Canwest News Service late Friday night that sour gas continued to leak from the pipe, and it could be several hours before the pipe was repaired.

But Tomslake resident Eric Kuenzl said both EnCana and the RCMP have been keeping people in the dark.

"I've never heard about any of this until about a half-hour ago," he said about six hours after the blast. "They haven't told nobody in this community. . . . nobody's had the balls to even warn the community."

However, Encana's Alan Boras said residents in the "near vicinity" were notified, and Tomslake did not fall into that zone.

Marilyn Belak, Dawson Creek's acting mayor, said RCMP confirmed no one had been injured in the latest bombing.

RCMP told her an "incident occurred in the wilderness," in the same area of the other bombings.

Investigators from the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team were at the scene Friday.

EnCana insisted the volume of gas released from the pipe was "very small and does not present a danger to field workers, area residents or the public."

"Residents living near the well, located about 14 kilometres south of Dawson Creek, have been notified of the incident and there is no need for evacuation," the company said in a news release. "The natural gas from this well contains a trace of hydrogen sulphide, 0.0005 to .0010 per cent."

The assurances notwithstanding, news of this latest attack is certain to ramp up the fear level in this already anxious rural community.

On Oct. 10, an anonymous writer of letters received by news outlets in Dawson Creek - which is about 580 kilometres northwest of Edmonton - warned "EnCana and all other oil-and-gas interests" to close down operations near the community of Tomslake, and vowed not to "negotiate with terrorists" taking part in the "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands."

The writer set a deadline of Oct. 11 for the energy companies to get out of town.

Two days after that letter arrived, a blast crater was found beneath an EnCana pipeline in the district. Evidence of a second blast, which caused a small leak that was reportedly contained, was found by workers on Oct. 16 at another EnCana pipeline site about 500 metres from the Alberta border.

Police said they believe the two attacks are related.

The town has been the scene of considerable friction between energy companies and residents fighting the expansion of sour-gas wells in the area.

Sour gas is natural gas tainted with toxic hydrogen sulphide. Many in the area believe sour-gas wells pose a risk to human and livestock health.

With files from the Edmonton Journal

See also

Inside an explosive situation

Six recent pipeline incidents, commission says

Oil vandal questioned in B.C. pipeline bombings

Somebody local with a grudge targeting oilpatch?

2nd explosion rocks northern B.C. pipeline

RCMP terror squad probes pipeline bombing