Bombs in the bush: Energy v environment in Canada
A gas boom triggers rural resentment
From The Economist print edition | Aug 13th 2009 | VANCOUVER
SOMEONE is disturbing the peace in the remote Peace River country of British Columbia. Since last October six bomb attacks have been made on natural-gas pipelines near Dawson Creek by someone demanding that their operator, EnCana, dismantle them. Nobody has been hurt and the damage has been minor, but the risk of a huge explosion is great. The latest bomb, on July 4th, caused a leak 500 metres from where workers were repairing damage from another attack three days earlier. In a letter to a local newspaper the bomber gave EnCana until mid-October to commit to a five-year plan to cease operations in the area, or face larger attacks. EnCana has responded by offering a C$1m ($920,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the saboteur.
Long a bucolic place of fertile farms, the Peace valley has become the centre of the hottest natural-gas boom in North America. New drilling technology has unlocked two vast pockets of shale gas with recoverable reserves of about 70 trillion cubic feet (2 trillion cubic metres). A stampede of energy companies has snapped up exploration rights, drilling more than 700 wells last year alone, and building pipelines. They have brought a bonanza of jobs and wealth to the area and to the province. In 2008 the provincial government netted C$2.66 billion in sales of land and drilling rights, and a further C$1 billion in royalty payments.
To the mysterious bomber this represents the destruction of a rural arcadia. The police take the threat seriously. They have beefed up local units and called in a national counter-terrorism squad. A decade ago more than 160 sabotage attacks took place in next-door Alberta, in protest at the energy companies’ alleged disregard for farmers, and particularly their practice of flaring gas to eliminate toxic impurities. This was blamed for causing stillbirths in animals and humans. The police have interviewed one of those responsible for that outbreak of vandalism (who was jailed for two years) but have eliminated him from the current investigation.
According to Paul Joosse, a sociologist at the University of Alberta, the latest bomber, who he believes is either an angry landowner or disgruntled EnCana employee, has tapped the locals’ resentment at the disruption to their way of life. The energy boom has inflicted extra traffic on their roads and, say some, seen property rights trampled, while many of the benefits go to the cities. As well as catching the bomber, the authorities have some community work to do.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment