This is a transcript of the mail segment of CBC's The Current on
January 14, 2010. Specifically, the conversation regarding
the recent BC bomber investigation and the oil company's handling
of sour gas.
Rick MacInnes-Rae: Well, finally this morning, the arrest and subsequent
release of Wiebo Ludwig last weekend was followed by a sweeping search
of his property by the RCMP. And looking for evidence connected with
the bombings of six gas pipelines in northeastern BC. Monday on The Current
we spoke to Ludwig from his home. When asked if he's the bomber?
This is what he said:
Wiebo Ludwig: I'm not interested in being interrogated. I've been
interrogated for 10 hours already, and I don't need that from
the media. Try to shift the focus to the real culprits, the
people who do a lot of damage, not just to locals here, but to
the world [and?] the petro chemical industry. And we've tasted
their sharp pains that they inflict quietly. I've been knocked
out in the field. My children have been heavily suffering from
it, asthma, different things. And miscarriages. This is no joke.
Anna Maria Tremonti: Wiebo Ludwig spoke to us from his home in
Trickle Creek, Alberta, Monday.
Now hearing him speak prompted J. Daniel Beachenor of Calgary to write:
Everytime I hear Mr. Ludwig speak, I'm surprised by his articulate
and charasmatic nature. You can hear the frustration in his
voice. Although I'm not a spiritual guy, I find his ideas
very thought-provoking. He has more conviction than any of our
current political leaders. The media seems only to want to cast
him in one light, one which is very "headline news." I don't
believe Mr. Ludwig is the bomber, but who knows? But if he isn't,
doesn't this just add credence to the fact that more people are
getting frustrated with their sense of powerlessness against
the oil and gas industry?
RMR: That's from J. Daniel Beachenor of Calgary.
Now Dave Cardel of Millerville, Alberta took another tack as he writes:
Wiebo Ludwig comes across as arrogant and condescending, with a
single agenda, and it seems pretty obvious he loves the limelight.
I appreciate that the residents of northeastern BC and northwestern
Alberta are having problems with the oil and gas industry, but
surely, you can find a better advocate for their concerns.
AMT: That comes from Dave Cardel of Millerville, Alberta.
Tim Ewert has his thoughts on this subject. He's an organic farmer
from Pouce Coupe, a small village near Dawson's Creek in northern BC,
and we've reached him at home. Hello!
Tim Ewert: Good morning, Anna Maria.
AMT: Now, we were talking about this issue related to Wiebo Ludwig
but there is another bigger issue here, is there not?
TE: Yes, there definitely is. I mean there's... I think people need
to realize that there has to be a much larger story behind this,
for someone to risk spending the rest of their life in jail,
they obviously have felt very threatened and have certainly felt
that they have not had any kind of adequate redress from the
authorities on this issue. I mean, it's obviously an act of
desperation... this is my interpretation, anyway... that they have no
other way to bring attention to the grievances that people
here have.
AMT: So in other words, you're talking about the gas development
that is going on in your neighbourhood.
TE: Yes, it's going on at such an amazing rate. And a lot of people
feel that it's really out of control.
AMT: Give us some perspective... how long have you had your farm
and what's been going on in the last decade or so?
TE: We're in our 36th year on this farm, and we've seen things go
from being a very peaceful, quiet, tranquil kind of place that we
could really enjoy living in, to a place where you hear the roar
of drill rigs, the huge noise that flares burning make constantly.
We've got heavy traffic. There are semi trucks going up and down
the roads. The dust. You know, there are all those kinds of
nuisance issues. And we, in November, November 22 to be exact,
had quite a massive leak in our area, which has gone very under-
reported.
AMT: Tell me about that. That was a Sunday, right?
TE: Yes it was. It was a Sunday morning.
AMT: What happened?
TE: Well, I could not see the cloud of gas from my house. It was on the
other side of a fairly large hill. But there was a gigantic cloud.
This has been reported to me by a number of people who saw it.
AMT: Your neighbours, in other words, right?
TE: Yes
AMT: Ok
TE: It was a gigantic cloud that people at first assumed was a fog
bank, until a neighbour drove into it, and realized right away that
it was heavily laden with H2S, and this neighbour is employed in the
oil and gas industry and is trained about H2S.
AMT: H2S is Hydrogen Sulfide?
TE: Yes
AMT: That's what the "sour gas" is, right?
TE: Yes, and it's a very deadly neurotoxin. And it's something that's
cummulative. It degrades your central nervous system, and has drastic
long term health effects, for people, for animals, well, for every
living thing.
AMT: And it smells like rotton eggs, right?
[transcriber's note:
http://www.mrwa.com/watersmellrotteneggs.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide]
TE: Yes, basically.
AMT: Ok, keep going.
TE: And this cloud was moving down a hillside and had engulfed a home.
And I spoke to a resident in that home yesterday, who told me that
she had burnt lungs and she has a note from the doctor saying that
this is the case.
AMT: She has burnt lungs from that morning?
TE: Yes. She was asleep in her house, and her house became sort of
enveloped in this cloud as it drifted downhill. And there have been,
you know, reports of livestock deaths from it, and very erratic behaviour
in livestock for a couple of weeks following it.
AMT: Now there has been a release from the BC Oil and Gas Commission
that acknowledges that there was, what they call, a piping failure
at an Encana Natural Gas well site on that day. But have they
acknowledged more?
TE: Well, not at this point. And I don't know whether the authorities
realize, or whether they just don't really care, that their refusal
to come clean on these kinds of things ... it just further erodes
the trust of people. And it's the kind of thing, you know, that
makes policing more difficult for the local RCMP, because the ???, the
National Security and Intelligence gathering unit has been really out
in force.
AMT: So you're talking now, about the investigation that's under
way in the Tom's Lake / Dawson Creek area because of the bombings
of the Encana well sites.
TE: Yes, we've had just a massive police presence in our area.
There's a security camera on our road. If you happen to come in
late at night, you are likely to be followed, and you know, quite
likely stopped and asked what you're doing, what your business is,
why are you driving around at this time of day.
AMT: Have you been questioned by police?
TE: Yes, a few times.
AMT: And what kinds of things have they wanted to know?
TE: They basically sort of accuse us of knowing about the bombings,
and demand DNA, fingerprints... they've asked to search our farm,
because they've said, "well if you have no explosives, then you're
not involved in this, then you certainly don't mind if we search
for explosives on your farm."
AMT: So did you let them?
TE: No. And we did not give them... we did not give them our DNA
or our fingerprints. We really don't feel that it's appropriate
that the police have that kind of information on people who are
are not connected, have not been charged, whom they have not a
single shred of evidence to connect them to any crime whatsoever.
AMT: How many of your neighbours feel the same way you do?
TE: The vast majority of people here in the countryside would
agree with me. And I don't claim to be the spokesperson for any
group or anyone in particular. I'm speaking essentially for myself.
AMT: Tim Ewert, thank you for sharing your concerns with us.
TE: You're very welcome, Anna Maria, and thank you for your interest
in this.
RMR: Tim Ewert is an organic farmer from Pouce Coupe, a small village
near Dawson's Creek in northern British Columbia.
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