Third gas pipeline bombed in B.C.

OTTAWA -- The third explosion in a month targeting sour-gas pipelines in northern British Columbia is scaring people in a nearby community who say they were not warned when toxic gas began leaking Oct 31.
The RCMP say the explosion -- at the Encana-owned pipeline in a rural, isolated area -- appears to be a deliberate act, but the leak is not a danger to the public, officials said.
An Encana spokesman told Canwest News Service that sour gas continued to leak from the pipe, and it take several hours before the pipe was repaired.
The latest explosion followed two earlier in the month.
On Oct 10, an anonymous letter received by news outlets in Dawson Creek -- about 580 kilometres northwest of Edmonton -- warned "EnCana and all other oil-and-gas interests" to close down operations near the community of Tomslake, and vowed not to "negotiate with terrorists" taking part in the "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands."
The writer set a deadline of Oct 11 for the energy companies to get out of town.
Two days after the letter arrived, a blast crater was found beneath an EnCana pipeline in the district. Evidence of a second blast, which caused a small leak that was reportedly contained, was found by workers on Oct 16 at another EnCana pipeline site about 500 metres from the Alberta border.
Police said they believe the two attacks are related.
The town has been the scene of considerable friction between energy companies and residents fighting the expansion of sour-gas wells in the area.
Sour gas is natural gas tainted with toxic hydrogen sulphide. Many in the area believe sour-gas wells pose a health risk to humans and livestock.
The RCMP is asking oil and gas workers in the area to remain extra-vigilant and be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.
But Tomslake resident Eric Kuenzl said both EnCana and the RCMP have been keeping people in the dark.
"They haven't told nobody in this community. . . . nobody's had the balls to even warn the community," he said.
But Encana's Alan Boras said residents in the "near vicinity" were notified, and Tomslake did not fall into that zone.
Marilyn Belak, Dawson Creek's acting mayor, said RCMP confirmed no one had been injured in the latest bombing.
RCMP told her an "incident occurred in the wilderness," in the same area of the other bombings.
Investigators from the RCMP's Integrated National Security Enforcement Team were at the scene.
EnCana insisted the volume of gas released from the latest explosion was "very small and does not present a danger to field workers, area residents or the public. The natural gas from this well contains a trace of hydrogen sulphide, 0.0005 to .0010 percent."
The assurances notwithstanding, news of this latest attack is certain to increase the fear level in this already anxious rural community.
The RCMP is asking oil and gas workers in the area to remain extra-vigilant and be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.
No information has been released on the type of explosive used.