A range war in the Canadian natural gas community has come to anend with the industry’s chief enemy being led out of an Albertacourtroom in handcuffs to await a potentially long prison sentencefor sabotage.

Bearded 58-year-old Wiebo Ludwig, head of a 34-memberback-to-the land commune called Trickle Creek, was convicted offive charges arising from a bombing campaign against gas wellsoperated by a number of Canadian producers. He will awaitsentencing behind bars. Accomplice Richard Boonstra was convictedon one charge and released on bail. The convictions, ranging frompublic mischief to possession of explosives, carry penalties of upto 14 years in jail. Ludwig is expected to go away for some time.

The attacks were on wells producing high volumes of “sour” gas,laced with lethal hydrogen-sulphide. The substance kills inatmospheric concentrations of less than one per cent, and theattacks caused fear and anxiety throughout the gas-rich districtaround the commune at Hythe, about 700 miles northwest of theCanadian gas capital of Calgary.

The industry’s defense during the lengthy conflict includedcollaboration between one of the chief targets, Alberta Energy Co.,and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. AEC and the RCMP recruited aneighbor of Ludwig as an informant and worked together on a stingoperation that included faking an explosion at a gas well. At onepoint, Ludwig was caught near an explosion wearing camouflage gearand with traces of bomb material on his hands. Later, a vehiclebelonging to him exploded in an Edmonton parking lot.

Ludwig’s conduct during the case did not help his case. He didnot take the witness stand but held frequent news conferences onthe steps of the courthouse where he was tried, saying his rightswere being abused and he was carrying on a crusade against the gasindustry that he insisted was a health and environmental matter. Heclaimed the fight started because sour gas-well emissions caused achild to be stillborn at Trickle Creek. Canadian criminal courts donot take kindly to defiance. The judge who presided over the Ludwigcase, Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman, voiced graveconcerns over his behavior during the trial.

In one famous news clip that made it onto national television inCanada, Ludwig and a supporter set fire to gas coming out of awater tap and suggested it was industrial pollution. Hythe DeputyMayor Myrna Truax said “people can do this here. Nobody thoughtanything of it. There has always been lots of gas in the water.”Hythe calls itself “the town of flowing wells.” Water gushes upwhen tapped at depths of about 30 meters, and often naturallytastes strongly of minerals. Gas provides some of the pressure thatdrives the flows.

Gordon Jaremko, Calgary

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