mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:10 pm Post subject: B.C. pipeline attacks raise spectre of terrorism |
 |
|
| Quote: |
VANCOUVER -- Debbie Mazanek had barely finished her morning school bus run and settled back into her northeastern B.C. home on Thursday when her phone rang.
A second explosion had shredded the earth around a nearby pipeline, sending small amounts of deadly sour gas hissing into the air, and Ms. Mazanek was asked to keep her cell phone close in case she was needed to evacuate kids from the school. Community leaders were on high alert after hearing about the blast, which came overnight about 15 kilometres from her ranch near Tomslake, a small ranching settlement on Highway 2 between the Alberta border and the northern B.C. outpost of Dawson Creek.
An earlier blast, also targetting a nearby gas pipeline owned by EnCana Corp., was discovered by a hunter on Sunday. Both blasts occurred in isolated forested spots where the buried pipeline emerged from the earth. No gas escaped following the first explosion, which blew out a two-metre crater around the pipeline, although the explosions have raised fears about domestic terrorism.
"It's kind of getting scary," Ms. Mazanek said. "I'm afraid they're going to kill somebody."
The blasts have sparked recollections among industry observers of the 1990s attacks on Alberta oil and gas facilities, and have prompted EnCana to heighten its security efforts.
RCMP are investigating the blasts, and have called in the force's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team to assist with the effort. Police believe the blast may be related to a menacing letter sent last week to the Dawson Creek Daily News. The anonymous handwritten note set an Oct. 11 deadline for "EnCana and all other oil and gas interests" to shutter and abandon their operations near Tomslake.
"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," the letter said.
EnCana spokesman Alan Boras said on Thursday that, save the newspaper letter, his company received no warning of violence against its property and has ordered an "extensive increase in security, surveillance through a variety of means of our facilities."
The second blast was discovered by two electricians who heard gas escaping from a junction between two pipelines, he said, and was quickly contained without injury. The gas contained trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a deadly substance whose presence creates what's known as sour gas. Mr. Boras said the no one was affected by the gas.
"It dissipates quickly and is diluted in the atmosphere," he said. "In any event, we treat it very seriously and take as much caution as we can in all of our operations."
In some ways � the warning letters, following by explosions in an area with an extensive proliferation of sour gas wells � the recent blasts parallel the events of a decade ago, say those familiar with the controversial attacks which led to jail time for rancher Weibo Ludwig
"In the space of two years there were more than 600 acts of vandalism and industrial sabotage, and that was before the bombings � there were as many as six bombings," said Andrew Nikiforuk, who wrote an award-winning book, "Saboteurs," detailing the Ludwig story.
Mr. Ludwig did not respond to calls for comment on Thursday. A woman who answered his phone yesterday said she believes he is currently in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Grande Prairie is 100 kilometres from Tomslake.
"A lot of people here hate the oil industry � the guys drive like lunatics, they're all junkies, they're drunks, they're transitory, they brought a hell of a lot of crime to the area," said one man, who identified himself only as Bob. "But I'm not sure anybody in their right mind would want to blow up a pipeline, on the other hand."
Much of the tension has come from the legal requirements for land owners who, often against their wishes, must cede access to their property to the oil and gas companies that own sub-surface rights.
"There's been no process in place for land owners to protect their interests, and that's what the crux of the problem has been," said Gwen Johansson, who represents land owners as president of the Custodians of the Peace Country Society. "We've got to figure out how to do this, because otherwise if you back people into a corner, they have nowhere to go."
Ms. Johansson has called for the creation of an ombudsman or some other dispute mechanism for land owners. In an interview on Thursday, John van Dongen, B.C.'s solicitor-general and minister of public safety, strong rejected any call for regulatory or legislative changes in the wake of the bombings.
"This is a totally inappropriate, totally unacceptable, totally despicable criminal act," Mr. van Dongen said in an interview. "It's simply not the approach to making representation on land use planning and energy industry planning decisions that people may disagree with."
Still, that is little consolation to those who flooded the Tomslake General Store with nervous phone calls on Thursday.
"We know somebody's attacking us, but we don't know who," said store owner Sharon Hahn. "It's worrisome because where is the next one going to happen? And how much more successful are they going to get?" |
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=885290
The economic and political costs of a sustained terrorist campaign could be huge. These pipelines can run above ground for hundreds of km. I don't think it is possible to protect them. |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
