Pipeline sabotage blows image of stable Canada

North America's largest natural gas corporation hopes a one-million-dollar bounty will take down the saboteur who is blowing up their pipelines in northern Canada. Since October 2008, six controlled explosions have rocked sour gas pipelines operated by EnCana energy around the Tomslake area in the province of British Columbia. EnCana's reward is thought to be the largest in Canadian history. While Calgary-based EnCana is the largest player in the area, a boom in unconventional gas extraction has transformed the rolling hills and sleepy farmland in this sparely populated region to a bustling hub of activity. "We really ramped things up in 2003," Encana spokesperson Brian Liverse told IPS during an interview at the company's field office. The corporation has several hundred wells in British Columbia, and between 150 and 200 in the area facing sabotage, says Liverse. Much of the region's gas is sour, or contaminated with hydrogen sulfide, a "highly toxic gas" which can cause death within a few breaths, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. "The gas rigs are like Christmas trees, they just dot the landscape," said Lyman Clark, the mayor of Pouce Coupe, the village nearest to attacked sites. On Jul. 15, days after the most recent attack, the Dawson Creek Daily News received a handwritten letter, allegedly from the bomber, demanding that EnCana cease operations in area.