EnCana Corp. last Thursday said it doubled its reward to $1 million for information that “significantly” contributes to the investigation and prosecution of the person or persons responsible for the bombings of the company’s natural gas pipeline and production facilities in the Dawson Creek area in northeastern British Columbia.

“We are very willing to pay $1 million for information that helps stop these bombings and these threats to the safety of the people in Dawson Creek communities,” said Mike Graham, executive vice president of the Calgary-based energy company. To qualify for the cash reward, “the information and testimony provided must be determined to be of high quality, significantly advancing the investigation of the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP] and integral to the criminal prosecution of an individual or individuals responsible for any or all of the bombings,” the company said.

“EnCana employees and contractors [also] are now eligible for the reward. We want to remove any barrier that would prevent someone with crime-solving information from coming forward. We have made this change to encourage someone who may have previously been reluctant to share information to now do the right thing and help police solve these crimes,” Graham said.

“We have witnessed six bombings of natural gas facilities in the past nine months. Each one is a threat to the safety, well being and peace of mind of our workers, contractors and the people who live in the affected communities. These are violent and dangerous criminal acts. They disrupt the lives of the people who live there and pose a very serious risk of causing injury or even death.”

The RCMP is investigating six bombings that occurred between October 2008 and July at three pipeline locations, a metering shed on an EnCana well site and two wellheads (see NGI, Jan. 19, Dec. 8, 2008, Oct. 20, 2008). The most recent attack on a wellhead on July 1 took four days to bring under control, according to EnCana.

The Dawson Creek Daily News newspaper last month received a second letter linked to a string of natural gas pipeline bombings in the Dawson Creek. It gave EnCana a deadline for removing its oil and gas facilities (see NGI, July 20).

The letter addresses EnCana in its salutation and reads in part:

“You simply can’t win this fight because you are on the wrong side of the argument. So stop pushing people around here.

“Cease all your activities and remove all your installations. Return the land to what it was before you came, every last bit of it, including your fancy gas plant at Kelly Lake before things get a lot worse for you and your terrorist pals in the oil and gas business. Use your excessive earnings to install green energy alternatives instead. That can be negotiated here but there will be no negotiation with you on fossil fuel activities. FULL STOP!!

Anyone with information regarding the attacks is asked to contact the RCMP at (866) 994-7473, or at www.dawsoncreekbombings.com or www.encana.com.

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