Following each of the six EnCana pipeline bombings, politicians and EnCana managers have stood united and told the world that their ears are open to all gas activity concerns. But Thursday night, about 50 concerned citizens attended an Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) meeting at Pouce Coupe Seniors Hall for a report on a major gas leak and found themselves talking to each other.
The attendees were not impressed by the OGC's cancellation.
Many said they didn't hear about the cancellation but others who did, decided it was a good time to come together as a community to discuss the details surrounding the Nov. 22 gas leak.
One by one, residents of the vicinity of the incident, located outside Pouce Coupe, stood and gave personal accounts of their disrupted Sunday morning. Each piece of information was in sharp contrast to what has been reported by EnCana and the OGC.
While EnCana reported a 9 a.m. incident, most of the residents agreed they began smelling gas and even hearing a sound "similar to a jet engine" as early as 3 a.m.
"They knew that because they had spoken to the residents out there," said Tim Ewert, a Pouce Coupe resident and unofficial spokesperson for the group. "They knew very well that people smelled it at least by three in the morning."
EnCana also reported a timely reaction by their workers who implemented an emergency response plan and evacuated residents. The residents laughed and shook their heads in disbelief as one woman reported EnCana staff showing up with broken safety equipment and having to turn back. They also agreed the neighbours evacuated each other long before EnCana staff showed up to direct the displaced residents to Tate Creek Elementary School.
"When their operator came down to check on the well, there were all these people who had self-evacuated, sitting in their vehicles at the junction of the Wallace Road and Block Line," Ewert said. "The well operator phoned back to the plant and said, 'I guess we have to do something because these people have left their homes.' "
At one point in the evening, Ewert held up a newspaper article quoting EnCana spokesperson Alan Boras saying the leak posed no danger.
"They downplay this stuff so incredibly much. The OGC told me the level of H2S coming out of that well varied from 6,100 to 8,200 parts per million. Seven hundred parts per million is lethal, will kill you instantly," he said. "Sometimes it gets so frustrating, just the twisted kind of tale of deceit and cover up."
Residents share their stories...
A number of residents compounded the belief EnCana's leak posed a risk by sharing stories about sick and dying livestock.
Linda Wagner said she believes her young foal died due to the gas leak.
"When I got home one was staggering and down," Wagner said. "I got her up and it was definitely a breathing problem. Got her into the barn, got Penicillin and gave her penicillin thinking there was maybe something I could do to help her. She was dead the next morning."
Almost as an afterthought, Wagner talked about her own medical issues.
"I went to the doctor, I had burnt lung lining. I have to watch for pneumonia because it won't clear," she said, adding she's currently taking painkillers and steroids.
Two months later and still no meeting...
It was close to two months since the potentially fatal incident when the OGC cancelled the Thursday meeting. In a Jan.11 press release, the OGC's corporate affairs division leader Steve Simon explained, "given the complexity of the technical investigation and the importance of other recent developments involving both EnCana and the RCMP, the commission in consultation with the RCMP is extending its investigation period by two weeks."
Block Line resident Jim Zacharias said that explanation could only be in reference to the current investigation into the pipeline bomber and the recent attention on convicted pipeline vandal Wiebo Ludwig. He said it's disturbing that so much attention is given to sensational issues while other serious threats are being ignored.
"Where is the media when there's a gas leak?" Zacharias asked. "When there's a bombing, Blair Lekstrom (Minister of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources) Mike Bernier (Dawson Creek Mayor) and our local representative (Electoral Area "D" Director Wayne Hiebert) are all outraged, but we have a gas leak and there's not a sound. Why can't they stand up and say we need to protect the people in the community?"
And where is the government?
When Premier Gordon Campbell offered South Peace MLA Blair Lekstrom the Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources portfolio, his constituents let out a collective sigh of relief.
The belief was that a local representative would understand the aggravation felt by landowners dealing with oil and gas issues but few of those at the meeting had positive things to say about their MLA.
When someone asked how many people at the Thursday meeting had contacted him about their concerns only to be ignored, a series of hands shot up.
"He refused to meet with us until the Oil and Gas Commissioner issued his report," clarified an unidentified woman. This was met with a comment that he is now a slave to his position.
Concerned citizen Barbara Swail added Lekstrom was invited to the meeting, as well as a number of other community meetings concerning oil and gas safety, but he refuses to attend.
"The last meeting he wouldn't come to because it wasn't government sanctioned," she said. "If the Minister of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources doesn't represent someone in government who's capable of sanctioning a freaking meeting, then we're in big trouble."
