B.C. bombings called ‘terrorism’

Twice in the space of three days in July and for the sixth time in nine months, EnCana’s natural gas pipelines in northeastern British Columbia have been hit with explosions that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police now say are acts of “domestic terrorism.”

The latest blast on July 4 released a small amount of toxic hydrogen sulfide, but the drop in pressure set off an alarm, automatically shutting the pipeline down.

The bombings started last October after an anonymous letter was sent to EnCana, telling the big independent to get out of the area, and describing the energy industry as “terrorists … endangering our families with the crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands.”

The attacks have since moved closer to populated areas close to the British Columbia-Alberta border, prompting EnCana to offer C$500,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said that prior to the last two incidents, the Mounties had not received much useful information from the public, but people have now started phoning in tips.

Brenda Kenny, president of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, said the situation is “abhorrent” because of the danger to EnCana workers and residents.

“Obviously, there is someone out there who has taken the law into their own hands,” she said.

Residents of Pouce Coupe, a town of 900 closest to the latest explosion, are speculating that the bomber could be a disgruntled landowner, an activist trying to draw attention to the dangers of sour gas development or possibly one of several “forest hermits” living in the region.

Mayor Lyman Clark said those hermits, known as “bush bunnies,” look like characters “you’d see in a 1940s western movie, the Gabby Hayes type.”

—Gary Park