Big Oil and Gas Killing Alberta Farmers

8/9/2019 Big Oil and Gas Killing Alberta Farmers

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On the afternoon of October 18,1998, Darrell Graff went for a

walkabout with his Sheltie cross, a dog named Tim, on his parentsfarm near Vulcan in southern Alberta. The warmth of the sunny,blue-sky autumn day just invited a stroll on windswept grasses.The 20-year-old, who raised sows and award-winning hay, wasin good health and regularly went for lengthy rides (sometimesup to 60 kilometres) on his mountain bike. As Darrell trekkedsoutheast, he heard a distant roar behind him that sounded likea jet airplane. He knew Crestar Energy Inc. was drilling for gas onhis familys land upwind (northwest) of the homestead. And, likemost Albertans, he knew the oilpatch never rested on Sundays.

But the young farmer had no idea the company was going

to ignite a 30-foot-high are that dayto dispose of wastegases. A are typi-cally burns about ascleanly as a brokenbarbecue and incinerates between 65% to 85% of a wells toxiccontents. As a result, a noxious brew of hydrocarbons is sentoating downwind. In Alberta, farmers often compare the experi-ence of breathing a ares emissions to sucking on the end of acars tailpipe. When the cloud of gas from Crestars are driftedinto Darrells path, be abruptly lost his breath and staggered. He

pressed on, then doubled over. Gasping for air, he headed forhome, hobbling from fence post to fence post.

In the farmhouse, his mother, Barbara Graff, was alarmed bythe noise. It rattled the windows and cracked the ceiling plaster.

After she found her son, ashen-faced, slumped in the doorway,she phoned the emergency number for Albertas Energy andUtility Board (EUB), the oil and gas industrys regulator. CrystalCassidy took the call and told Barb the rm shouldnt be aring.Minutes later, Crestar shut down the well. The next morning aCrestar employee chastised the family for not phoning his com-pany rst.

And that was just the beginning of a series of injustices that in

troduced the Graffs to North Americas relentless energy matrixSince 1986 Canada has steadily increased natural gas exports tothe U.S. (see Export Boom,). Even though Canada has only 1%of global gas reserves, we now export more gas than any othercountry, with the exception of Russia. Every year, more than threetrillion cubic feet of gas head south. That gure could rise to vetrillion by 2010. In 2001. this highly critical export brought in a record $26 billion, an increase of 25% from the previous year. Mosof the gas came from Alberta about $2 million worth from theGraffs own backyard.

To satisfy Americas growing demand for energy, industry wil

have to drill 200,000exploration wellsover the next 10

years, or twice many as now dot rural Alberta. Each one

will occupy a hectare of land and many will need roads, ares andpipelines. That level of activity guarantees more conict betweenindustry and landowners, and more toxic incidents like the onethat has turned the Graff family upside down.

Barbara Graff doesnt think most consumers are aware of thehuman cost of a gigajoule of gas and shes probably right. Herfamilys descent into hell not only illuminates the rapid pace ochange in the natural gas business (the Graffs have now dealt

with four companies), but also serves as a cautionary tale abouthe inability of a government to regulate its key revenue sources

Alberta toxicologist Bob Coppock, who for years has monitoredthe tension between the agriculture and fossil fuel industries, asksa big moral question: How does society manage a nonrenewableresource industry around an existing biological economy suchas farming? As the Grafts will sadly attest, government is stilsearching for a just an answer.

Before their unwelcome encounter with Albertas golden rev

Alberta farmers and Big Oil and Gas exist side by side. One group works the land. The

other drills underneath it, pumping up prots, tax revenues and fuel for energy hungryNorth America. But the natural gas industry also pumps up something else: a noxious

brew as deadly as cyanide. One farming family claims its slowly killing them and asexploration and U.S. demand increase, it could harm thousands more

FLARE UPby Andrew Nikiforuk

Alberta is at the same time blessed and cursed by sourgas. Blessed because it brings in $2 billion annually.Cursed because of an abiding public-health controversy


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enue earner, the Graffs were a poster family for the province: dili-gent, frugal and God-fearing. They believed government servedthe majority and companies xed their mistakes. The Graffs inde-pendent forefathers had lived off the rich prairie soil in southern

Alberta for three generations. When Barbara and Larry marriedin 1970, they started with less than $1,000. Over the years thecouple slowly bought seven quarters of land (one quarter equals160 acres) and rented another ve sections (640 acres) to grow

grain. They built up a herd of 100 cows. Unlike most farmers, theGraffs had money in the bank. My wife and my family didntdemand high living, explains Larry, a quiet 58-year-old. Theysacriced to keep the farm going. Barbara, a soft-spoken woman

with piercing blue eyes, loved her garden and small orchard. Wewere almost self-sufcient and spent a lot of time at home, shesays. The Graffs, however, had little experience with the oilpatch.For much of the last 50 years, industry has mined the shallow gaselds of southeastern Alberta. But in the late 1990s these wellsstarted to go dry. Exploration began moving west, toward theRockies and the farming community of Vulcan.

The Graffs introduction to Big Oil began innocently enough

when a seismic crew showed up on their land three monthsbefore Darrells collapse. Seismic involves cutting a straight lineacross a parcel of land. The crew generally explodes dynamite atintervals in 18-metre-deep holes in order to create measurableshock waves that outline gas deposits below. The seismic gangcut across Larrys wheat crop and paid him for the damage. Theycame through and everything went okay, recalls Larry.

Later that summer, two Crestar land men, Toni Dawson and Jason Gouw, appeared on the familys doorstep. They told theGrafts about the origin of Albertas great wealth: every parcel ofland comes with two titles and two rights. The Grafts owned the

surface title and the right to farm their topsoil. But Crestar, a mid-sized Calgary rm, had acquired the mineral rights and wantedto drill just 540 metres northwest of the Graffs house into theTurner Valley Zone a patch of hellish-smelling gas some 1,600metres underground.

The company offered the Graffs $17,000 for the inconvenienceand an annual rent of $3,750. Larry noted that Darrell had a mildcase of asthma, then tentatively asked if the well could he dugnortheast of the house, so westerly winds wouldnt blow fumestheir way. The answer from Dawson and Gouw, says Larry, wasno. (When contacted by National Post Business on this and othercharges levelled by the Grafts, Dawson had no comment andGouw could not comment because of litigation.) After much dis-cussion, Larry reluctantly signed off on the well. Dawson also toldthe Graffs that the facility would be classied as a Level One sour

well. That bit of news meant nothing to the family.

About 30% 0f the gas in Western Canada is subqualitv or sour,meaning it is dirtied by a high proportion 0f hydrogen sulphide(H2S), a highly corrosive substance thats as poisonous as cyanide.The Canadian government so admired its lethal qualities during

World War II that it employed H2S in a secret chemical warfareprogram. Its not hard to understand why: H 2S targets the brainand lungs and starves them of oxygen. As a result, H2S can knock

GAS ATTACKS: A Sour Gas Chronicle

1922: Worlds rst sour well drilled at Hells Half Acre inTurner Valley, Alta. Fumes from aring and venting peehouse paint and dissolve lead llings

1924: US. Public Health Service identies H2S as one ofthe most toxic of gases

1929: Sour gas wells kill up to 30 oil and gas workers inTexas over two year period

1943: Canadian government uses H2

S in its secret chemi-cal warfare program

1950: Sour gas leak in Mexico kills 22 and leaves anothe47 hospitalized for respiratory and central nervous systemproblems

1960: Ranchers along the Alberta foothills from PincheCreek to Olds complain of rusting fences, ailing cattle, sicktrees, asthmatic children and foul odours downwind of sougas plants. Industry calls it a psychological problem

1971:At the insistence of the Queen of the NetherlandsShell Canada settles a milliondollar sour gas lawsuit thatdocuments 50 incidents of ill health and cattle death re-ported by 15 Pincher Creek families, The relocated ranch-

ers sign condentiality agreements and call themselvesDPs displaced persons

1982: Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd. well blowsand spurts sour gas into the air for 67 days near Lodgepole

just south of Edmonton. The blowout kills two workers andhundreds of cattle. Thousands of people downwind com-plain of headaches, eye irritation, nosebleeds, miscarriagesand u symptoms. Industry calls it a social contagion

1985: University of Alberta toxicologist Dr. Tee Guidottrecommends a H2S registry to keep track of injured workersand ranchers; government refuses to do so

1986:A $3million epidemiological study on Pincher Creek

ranchers gives them a clean bill of health. Toxicologists calthe study a fraud. Funding for sour gas research dries up inCanada

1990: A book about Hungarian workers in the sour gaselds of Kazakhstan reports widespread lung, nasal andneurological complaints due to low concentrations of H2S

1992:After a six year delay the Alberta government pub-lishes the proceedings of an international workshop on Ef-fects of Acid Forming Emissions in Livestock. It calls formore studies on sour gas and concludes that the onus isalmost exclusively on the livestock producer to prove thatsour gas has an effect on the health of animals and humanbeings

1994: An Alberta Research Council study on a sour gaspipeline break concludes that H2S and hydrocarbons likelykilled and damaged the brains and immune systems ofcattle on two ranches in central Alberta, A Freedom of Information request forces the studys release four years later

1997: U.S. report documents widespread human illnesshospitalizations and livestock deaths in northern Michigansnew sour gas elds

1998: Wiebo Ludwig begins bombing campaign againstsour gas facilities in northern Alberta after industrial aresand emissions sicken his family. Vandalism totals $10 mil-lion and brings national attention to sour gas issues.


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a person dead in levels as small as 700 parts per million (thats.007%). The heavy gas tends to settle in low areas, where peopleand cattle often dwell. The gas can also disarm a persons defencesystem by destroying the sense of smell at 100 ppm.

Before sour gas can be sold or exported, industry must pump itthrough pipelines to one of 250 plants in Western Canada, where97% 0f the sulphur is removed. No other area, with the possibleexception of Saudi Arabia or Kazakhstan, is blessed or cursed with

as much sour gas as Alberta. The blessingis economic: each yearthe provinces 6,000sour gas wells delivernearly $2 billion 0frevenue in taxes androyalties. The curseis an abiding public-health controversy.

In the last 30 years,

exposure to H

2

S leaks,ares or emissionshas killed at least 34

workers in Alberta andBritish Columbia anddisabled hundredsmore (see Gas At-tacks,). In addition,sour gas incidentshave downed cattleand forced the evacu-ation of aboriginal

reserves. Thousandsof rural Albertans liv-ing downwind of sourgas facilities have fordecades persistentlyreported health prob-lems and reproductiveabnormalities among livestock. Toxicologist Dr. Tee Guidotticalls H2S the elephant in Albertas living room.

Industry, however, has challenged any suggestion that chronicH2S exposures are anything more than a nuisance or a perceivedrisk to human health and safety. The Petroleum CommunicationFoundation, for example, notes that people living near sour gasand aring operations have much stronger views about the effectsof sour gas and aring than those who live in areas of little or nooil and gas activity.

For its part, the Alberta government hasnt made much effortto protect the health of its citizens. It has refused to fund propertoxicology studies or to set up an H2S registry. In 1998, the EUBowned only one mobile air monitor and it typically arrived onscene only after winds had blown the evidence to Saskatchewan.One reason for Albertas sluggish response is due to sour gasbeing such a complicated research topic. It mostly travels with

other bad actors, such as benzene (a leukemia causer), carbondisulphide (a hormone-disrupter) and sulphur dioxide (a lung

wrecker). There are probably additive and synergistic effects,explains toxicologist Coppock. I think that most toxicologists

would say the potential for adverse effects at low levels is obviously there.

A growing body of medical research from around the worldagrees. Several European and U.S. studies indicate H2S (and its

sulphurous companions) may be potenneurotoxins and fetus-aborters in levelsas small as 1 ppmOne 1999 U.S. studyby Texas researcherMarvin Legator foundthat residents livingdownwind from ageothermal powerplant (another H2S

producer) showedcentral nervous impairment at levels o10 ppb. Studies onpeople who repeatedly inhaled 5 ppm oH2S or less downwindfrom a Los Angelesrenery noted theysuffered permanendecits in balanceand reaction time orcomplained aboudizziness, insomniaand fatigue. Dr. Kaye

Kilburn, an expert inchemically inducedbrain injuries at theUniversity, of South

ern California, doesnt equivocate: I think the evidence is prettyconvincing that, even at levels as low as I ppm, H2S is insidiousand cumulative and irreversibly damages the brain.

Like most Albertans, the Graffs knew nothing about the sci

ence of H2S, or its troubling legacy. Nor did they know that nearlyone quarter of Albertas population is routinely exposed to areemissions including H2S. We were naive, says Barbara of theassurances by Crestar that all would he safe. To show their appreciation for the familys cooperation, the company offered tosend the Graffs on a weekend retreat to the mountains. You areso nice to get along with, declared one of the land men. But Crestar never delivered on its holiday promise. Instead, it resumedaring the day after Darrell fell ill, and kept hard at it for the nex

week. Well completion reports led by the company with theEUB reveal the family was repeatedly exposed to H2S. One repor

Amoung the symptoms alleged by the Graff family: dizziness, nausea,nosebleeds, paralysis, seizures, plus a tentative diagnosis of MS.


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stated the wind was blowing traces of gas and ammonia towardsresidence. Another found H2S odour still present and wind blow-ing towards farm. The oil and gas industry and the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency generally concede that a large aringtest well (the burning of gas to measure a wells productivity) canrelease more pollutants in several days than can a large gas plantin a month. There is, though, no recordof how much gas Crestar burned off dur-

ing the period. But, as one former Crestaremployee later admitted to this reporterat a public meeting: We shouldnt hdone what we did that week. We wcaught with our pants down.

During the aring, everyone in thGraff family experienced a varietycomplaints: sore throat, dizzinesnausea, nosebleeds, headache. Alare symptoms of low-level H2S exposure. One night, Larry found sootyparticles the size of sh scales falling

from the sky. Crestar employees saidthey had no idea where the particlescame from. Two years later, thefamily read a University of Albertastudy that warned smoky and sootyares were highly toxic and needto he avoided.

With each aring incident, Dar-rells health worsened. By January1999, he was diagnosed with anirregular heartbeat and pneumonia.

also had trouble walking. His sister,a 23 yearold music teacher, expsimilar symptoms, as well as leg parfatigue. She kept tripping and coulpiano as well as she once did. Barbarand couldnt sleep at night. She noteoften cleared when they drove away

The following spring, Barbara lost 2Darrells pigs miscarried or abortedecdotal records kept by ranchers andlivestock reproductive problems winearly 50 years. Two recent Albertacuracy of the farmers accounts: beef cattle living downwind ofH2S emissions did experience reproductive problems more oftenthan those living upwind. A 2002 University of Alberta study alsofound that sulphur dioxide, a common byproduct of sour gasproduction, weakened the lungs and immune systems of cattleeven at low levels.

As the family tried to sort out its health problems Crestar ap-plied to upgrade its facility by the Graffs house to a Level Two

well (level Four is the sourest). It also wanted to install a sour gaspipeline across the familys land and put a new separator and arestack at the well site. Larry protested the expansion and forced a

public heating before the EUB. The regulator, thought the Graffswould surely protect their interests.

Funded largely by industry, the EUB has a mandate to regulatethe provinces 1,000 oil and gas companies in a manner that isfair, responsible and in the public interest. Known as the Energy

Resources Conservation Board during theera of former premier Peter Lougheed, ionce earned respect with fair and tough

minded decisions. But during the 1990soard took conservation out of itsand now generally interprets the

c interest as anything that helpsin government revenue from

oilpatch. And with a shift to selflation and cuts to staff, the EUBandowners to fend for themselves,ains Roger Epp, a political scientis

Augustana University College rose. The EUB, now largely staffed

oilpatchers, approves as many as

0 wells a year. It rarely says no toustry. But in the fall 0f 1998, therd belatedly identied landownercerns as an emerging issue aftermillion worth of industrial sabo

e in Peace River and the murder ooil executive in Bowden, Alta., by agruntled rancher.

In April 1999, three board members wo former oilmen and a retiremer - heard the Graffs case. Crestar

d its lawyer argued industry hadright and a need to develop reurces from its wells. However, theyso said the company would stoparing near the Graffs and wouldtroduce a safer, closed-productionstem. When it was their turn, theraffs and their lawyer outlined themilys growing health concerns

y this point, Darrell was havineizures whenever he encounteredell emissions. The Graffs wanted

a n nd to the pollution and asked theboard if Crestar could relocate the family to an area without sourgas developments.

Shortly afterwards the EUB issued Decision 99-13, a terselyworded ruling that noted psychological stress, as well as odourscan act as triggers for asthmatic attacks. But it also stated thatan absolute guarantee of no adverse human health effects from

wells is not possible. It then gave Crestar, the provinces fourthlargest arer of toxic gases in 1999, the go-ahead to expandThere was one important condition: the company could not areor release sour gas. The board also told the Graffs it wasnt in the

Edmonton

Red Deer

Calgary

Vulcan

Lethbridge

Banff

Alberta

THE SOUR FIELDSWhere sour gas can be found in Alberta


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farm-relocation business.

After the ruling, Crestars Jason Gouw met Larry driving downa back road. According to Graft, Gouw, gloated over the decisionand chimed, We won the case! Larry sadly replied that he nowappreciated Wiebo Ludwigs frustrations. At the time, the angryrhetoric of the bearded cleric, whose family had been gassedtwice by H2S, dominated the news. Larry then broke into tears.Gouw later went to the RCMP and reported that Larry had threat-

ened the company. We became fearful of Crestar after that day,says Barbara. The familydecided that from thenon they would onlycommunicate with Cre-star in writing.

Throughout that fall,activity at the well continued. There were more ares, moreupsets. As Larry prepared to go to a relatives funeral one day,he noticed another are stack. He phoned the EUB to remindthe agency of its April

no-aring ruling. Threehours later - Larry hav-ing given up on thefuneral - an EUB of-cial reconrmed theboards decision andordered the are stackbe taken down.

Whenever the Graffsphoned in subsequentcomplaints, they say,EUB staff groaned. A

few insinuated familymembers were chroniccomplainers and theonly ones having prob-lems with Albertasnatural gas industryand, in particular, theaggressive tactics of itsmembers.

Not so. In December1999, for example,

Crestar and ComptonPetroleum Ltd. blasteda string of seismic testholes near Neel Roberts acreage just outside of Vulcan. As aconsequence, the quality of the farmer and tax consultants threegood water wells went down. When Roberts hired hand warnedthe blasters that seismic often affected the water table, they re-plied, So what? Sue us! Roberts doesnt understand why the tworms didnt offer compensation. People here have had it withthe oil companies, says Roberts, who is suing the rms. Whathappened to the Graffs is even more outrageous. And the mostgalling thing is that no one wants to take responsibility.

Joanne and Ed Kettenbach, who have a farm near the Graffsalso experienced problems. Crestar, for instance, did notify themof its plans for a new sour well near their land but it did so ninedays after it had been approved. That meant the Kettenbachs hadmissed the deadline to object. When Joanne, the mother of twoboys, later raised questions about the health effects of aringone Crestar employee cheekily replied: Well, why did you movehere? Another company employee told Joanne that the Graffs

were short of cash and were trying to milk Crestar. Joanne, whoworks in the energy sector as a consultant, wasappalled by such cynicism. This is a terribleinjustice, she says, andthe government and theEUB and the company

pretend nothing is happening.

But bad things continued to happen. On January 13, 2000, arepresentative of AlbertaEnvironment arrived to

check out the Graffscomplaints about beingharassed by Crestar. Onthe way out the drive

way, the civil servant accidentally ran over andkilled Tim, the Sheltiecross. At the time, Darrell was sick in hospitaon oxygen.

In June 2000, the

Public Safety and SourGas committee visited Vulcans contentgas elds. The EUB hadappointed the missionas a result of increasingpublic health and safetyissues and concernsregarding growth andoperation of sour gas

wells

Although BaGraff was too sick to attend, other locals spoke

directly, saying the EUB was a captive agency of industry thatignored the cumulative effects of gas drilling on landowners, andthat the companies were difcult and frustrating to deal with andarrogance and intimidation ... was not uncommon.

That same month Crestar erected survey stakes for anotherthree sour wells it wanted to put upwind from the Graffs farmThe family objected. But Crestar ignored them, later ling its drilling applications as routine, which indicated to the EUB there

were no problems. As a result, Crestar quickly got new drilling

After years of denial, says a toxicologist,

government and industry now realize what theydont know about sour gas might hurt them

HISTORICAL CANADIAN GAS SALES

EXPORT BOOM Every year, Canada exports more than three tril-lion cubic feet of natural gas to the U.S. The fgure could double by

2010. A lot of it will be sour.


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licences and started to spud the rst hole in August. When Larrysaw the activity he frantically called Richard Secord, an environ-mental lawyer in Edmonton.

Secord, who has represented hundreds of landowners, includ-ing Ludwig, knew his way around the regulator. When he foundout Crestar had withheld the Graffs objection from the board,he raised hell. The EUB, a stickler for protocol, pulled Crestarslicence and suspended operations in mid-hole. Crestar protested,

arguing the Graffs had an agenda to continuously object to Crest-ars applications, raisingthe same unsubstanti-ated objections.

That fall the company,which by then had beenbought out by Calgarybased Gulf CanadaResources Ltd. for $2.3billion, took a differenttack. It invited the fam-

ily to take part in media-tion as part of the EUBsnew alternative disputeresolution (ADR) pro-cess. By now the Graffshad sued Crestar for $5million for loss of healthand property. Duringthe talks, the Graftspresented the ndings of a Calgary respiratory specialist, Dr. Mat-thew van Olm. After four visits, van Olm concluded the Grafts hadno signicant health problems or neurological symptoms until

the winter of 1998. He also said the familys ill health was typicalof the neurotoxicity and general toxicity of hydrogen sulphide,ethane, methane, butane, roulette ... and other hydrocarbons.The ADR talks, which remain condential, sputtered out in De-cember without any resolution.

With that route a dead end, the EUB granted the family anotherhearing in March 2001. This time, EUB chairman Neil McCrankserved as one of the three judges. (A retired corporate lawyerand a former oilpatcher were the others.) The family made a pleaagainst further development upwind of their farm. Although Bar-bara Graff accepted Crestar had a right to exploit its mineral leas-es, she didnt believe they should take precedent over the rightsof a human to breathe. Yet Crestar has taken away our most verybasic rights to clean air, clean water, clean food and shelter.

Anita Graft also addressed the board. The newlywed describedher chemical sensitivities, fatigue, memory loss and inability toplay the piano. She said the board and the oil companies could gohome at night and enjoy their lives. She couldnt. A woman hasthe right to choose what happens to her body, she said. Well,those men have raped me of my health. They have ... deliberatelyrobbed me of my freedom of choice .... And now these same menare before you asking your permission to repeat their actions.

The board also learned that Dr. Robert Bell, a University 0fCalgary neurologist, had tentatively diagnosed Anita and Darrelas having multiple sclerosis. MS is a degenerative disease of thecentral nervous system. Turner Valley, home to the provincesoldest sour-gas eld and the Black Diamond region, have thehighest rate of MS in the country: 354 cases per 100,000 peopleThe national average is between 100 and 200 cases per 100,000.

Dr. Murray Young, a physician hired by GuIf/Crestar, contested

van Olms argument that sour-gas aring had caused Darrelland Anitas disabilitiesand made them chemically sensitive to hydrocarbons. Young, whodeclined to be inter

viewed for this articlecalled the whole areaof chemically inducedallergies and injuries ahighly controversiaeld. Yet he admit

ted that governmentsin both Germany andSweden recognizedchemical sensitivitiestriggered by hydrocarbons. GuIf/Crestar latertabled a report suggesting another source

of H2S - manure, in this case from the Graffs farm. Yet the EUBdecision noted that a technician had found a sour gas leak thatcould he heard and smelled at Crestars well.

In summer 2001, the EUB ruled Gulf/ Crestar should addressdeciencies in the companys practices, such as the sour gasleak, and make improvements. It then gave the Graffs threemonths to sell their farm. After that period Crestar could stardrilling again. Secord calls the decision unprecedented .... Idoesnt seem like much. But you show me a EUB decision thaeven comes close to this. It was an admission the family had suffered.

It took nearly three years, but the Graffs nally sold their homesection for half of its appraised value this fall. The buyer will workthe farm but not reside there. Barbara and Darrell are still lookingfor a safe place to live and often camp out in a 24-foot-long trailer18 kilometres upwind of their farm to escape fugitive H2S emissions. Anita and her husband have relocated to B.C. Darrell walks

with a cane and frequently needs oxygen. Larry, whose dreamwas to die a farmer, despairs about the future: This was homeEverything is in storage. This is a nightmare. Our farm, our way olife, everything is upset.

When shes not feeling sick, Barbara attends EUB public meet-ings as a silent witness to what she believes to be the boardsbias against landowners. She recently helped convince a group oranchers to freeze seismic activity in a 100 kilometre area alongthe Rockies. She says shes been in touch with more than 100

25,000

23,000

21,000

19,000

17,000

15,000

13,000

11,000

9,000

7,000

NUMBER OF SOUR WELLS DRILLED

1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1992 1996 1998 2002

SOURCE:ALB

ERTA

ENERGY

AND

UTILITIES

BOARD

Currently, about 30% of allnatural gas produced in Albertais sour gas. The provincialaverage H2S content is 9.4%

Welling Up, Of the 200,000 new wells that could be drilled inAlberta over the next ten yeears, one third will be sour.


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farmers who have been displaced or harmed by aring or sourgas activity. Many now live in B.C. I dont want this to happen toanother family, ever again, she declares.

Since the Graff incident, the EUB has reviewed its sour gaspolicies andpromised toimplement all87 recommen-

dations made by the Committee on Public Safety and Sour Gas,tabled in December 2000. That report chastised the regulator ona host of issues, including inadequate monitoring, inadequatehealth data and industrial bias.

Since then the EUB has increased sour gas inspections, ordereda study on the industrys effects on land values and is developingpersonal air monitors capable of detecting low levels of H2S. Ithas admitted the growth in demand for sour gas has resulted, attimes, in a conict. Of 28 facilities where it monitored H2S emis-sions in 2001, 32% were poisoning downwinders or, as the EUBput it, had off lease problems.

EUB chair McCrank refused to be interviewed for this article.When asked to address the displacement of the Graffs, board staffreplied: The scale and pace of development within Alberta some-times leads to public concern .... These concerns translate intopersonal choice. People have the right to decide to buy and sellproperty The Lethbridge Herald wasnt impressed by such argu-ments. An editorial stated: Gulf/Crestar is running a southern

Alberta family off its land, may in fact be poisoning its membersas it does, and all the technical gobbledegook in the world isntgoing to make it seem even remotely right.

Houston-based Conoco Inc. bought out Gulf Resources in May2001 for $9 billion. It was just one of scores of mergers that sawthe majority of Canadas natural gas reserves pass into U.S. basedhands. Peter Hunt, Conocos general manager of public affairs,describes the Graffs as an inherited problem and swears thecompany is a good neighbour. A set of allegations have beenmade and we have to establish some facts, he explains. He saysthe company wants to arrive at a solution but the Graffs, he adds,arent cooperating. Nor will they accept air monitors. Hunt, whoseems genuinely concerned, confesses the issue has brought himto tears.

Barbara Graff says Conocos statements are disingenuous, not-ing that the family has repeatedly called for proper monitoring

downwind of the well. (Farmers say industry, prefers to monitorupwind.) When do the perpetrators of a crime dictate how acrime will he solved? Just where was the monitoring equipmenton October 18? The real issue is injury and displacement. When

you buy a company, you buy responsibility for resolving its mis-takes.

After years of denial and inaction, says Dr. Guidotti, govern-ment and industry have changed their attitudes on sour gas.They have come to realize what they dont know might hurtthem. Hes now working on a $15 million animal-health study hebelieves will answer questions about the toxicity of low-level emis-

sions. Alberta Health, however, has abruptly cancelled a parallehuman-health study. They redirected the money to debt reduction, adds Guidotti wryly.

Canada continues to export its gas with what some mighcall irrationaexuberance

A third of p r o p o s e d

200,000 new gas wells will be sour. New drilling (an average of10,000 wells a year) has not replaced what has been extractedsince 1982, a state of affairs that worries the Canadian Gas Potential Committee, an independent group of Calgary geologistsEarlier this year, it warned that dwindling Canadian supplies wilnot be able to meet rising U.S. demands within a year or twoThat means higher prices and possible shortages for CanadiansNo one has yet contested the committees analysis.

Several months after it bought Gulf - and nearly two years afterGulf bought Crestar - Conoco merged with Oklahoma basedPhillips Petroleum Co. to become a $35 billion conglomerate

The new rm, ConocoPhillips, is the worlds sixth largest energycompany. In a letter to the Graffs, John Benton, a Conoco manager, said he couldnt talk about the gassing of Darrell Graff dueto pending litigation.

Perhaps legal action wouldnt be necessary if they, wouldhonestly and openly discuss those events, says Barbara GraftThe determined mother, a gentle Christian, now compares herencounter with the continents energy dynamic to being hit by adrunk driver in a car with a broken carburater. She says shes notasking for much - just an export vehicle with a clean mufer and asober navigator who respects human life.

ConocoPhillips wants a solution. But it says the Graffs arent cooperating.

Nor will they accept machines that could monitor the air.

The article appeared in the National Post Business Magazine

October 2002, Page 94

Andrew Nikiforukhttp://www.andrewnikiforuk.com/http://www.saboteursandbigoil.com/

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Big Oil and Gas Killing Alberta Farmers