RCMP probe second B.C. gas pipeline explosion
Updated Thu. Oct. 16 2008 1:37 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The RCMP is investigating a second explosion on a gas pipeline in northern B.C. near Dawson Creek, close to the Alberta border.
Police have only confirmed that the explosion targeted a natural gas pipeline owned by EnCana.
Earlier Thursday, the RCMP confirmed a specialized unit had been called in to investigate a bombing on another EnCana gas pipeline earlier this month.
Police in the town said someone planted an explosive device near a sour gas pipeline operated by EnCana.
The blast left a 2.5-metre-wide and 2-metre-deep crater in the ground. It dented the pipeline, which didn't rupture. Otherwise, police said the explosion could have been much worse, noting that sour gas is toxic.
The Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) is now helping investigators determine who was behind the incident.
According to the RCMP website, "INSET members are better able to track, deter, disrupt and prevent criminal activities (major or minor offences) of terrorist groups or individuals who pose a threat to Canada's national security."
RCMP Sgt. Tim Shields told CTV.ca on Thursday that the unit has been "investigating since day one because it was a direct attack on the infrastructure of British Columbia and that's part of their mandate."
Shields said the investigation is not a terrorism probe, but instead police are treating the incident like an "isolated criminal act."
"There appears to be an agenda involved, but we're not characterizing this as an act of terrorism," he told CTV.ca by phone from Vancouver.
He said police had warned gas and oil companies in the area before the incident about a suspicious letter that was sent to local media outlets on Oct. 10. It told the companies to cease production and leave the area, but did not contain a specific threat.
"We will no longer negotiate with terrorists which you are as you keep endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands," said the anonymous letter, parts of which were published by the Dawson Creek Daily News, according to The Canadian Press.
Shields said investigators are curious about the timing of the letter, which came just a few days before the Oct. 12 bombing. He said police are making the logical assumption that the letter and explosion are linked.
EnCana spokesman Alan Boras told CP that the company's facilities in northern B.C. haven't been targeted before. He also said the company has good relations with community members.
"It doesn't mean we don't from time to time have concerns. We work very hard to work through them," Boras said.
One area resident also told CP that some landowners have been fighting for more land use rights.
Gwen Johanson, a representative of Custodians of the Peace which represents some of those property owners, says she's never heard anyone make threats against the gas industry.
"We don't want to go that route," she said.
With files from The Canadian Press
