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Monday October 22 2001
New book about Wiebo depicts Mounties as bunglers
Lisa Gregoire, Journal Staff Writer
Edmonton Journal
Saturday, October 20, 2001
Eco-terrorism costs by jurisdiction chart.


A new book about Wiebo Ludwig's war against the oil and gas industry describes a dysfunctional, short-sighted and underfunded national police force that ignored sabotage for years, then botched an investigation by relying on a weak informant and faulty equipment.

Author Andrew Nikiforuk calls his latest book, Saboteurs, a frightening indictment of the RCMP.

"We couldn't even fight terrorism in Peace River. How can we fight international terrorism?" Nikiforuk said in an interview Friday.

"The RCMP actually had a man on the ground who understood what was going on and he was ignored. People in positions of power had no idea what was going on in the field."
Ludwig and his followers outwitted the RCMP and private security officers by reading books about "monkey-wrenching" and by wearing socks over their shoes to cover their treads, Nikiforuk writes. The RCMP didn't even have night goggles or all-terrain vehicles to follow them into the bush.

In the damning 250-page book scheduled for release next weekend, Nikiforuk chronicles decades of pollution by energy companies and neglect by authorities -- a situation that exploded about five years ago, when Ludwig, a Christian zealot who loved the limelight, abandoned years of bureaucratic wrangling and started building bombs.
Currently in jail for industrial sabotage, Ludwig is expected to be released Nov. 14 to his Trickle Creek farm near Hythe, about 600 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Alberta suffers more than any state or province in North America from industrial sabotage, a situation that could continue unless energy companies and provincial regulators address pollution, surface rights and well-site reclamation issues, Nikiforuk said.
Acts of "eco-terrorism" cost Alberta energy companies more than $20 million from 1995 to 2000, said Dave Ray of Kroll Associates, an international corporate security company with an office in Calgary.

"When you ignore burning issues and refuse to deal with them, they become catastrophic events that devastate us all," Nikiforuk said of farmers' concerns about toxic sour-gas leaks and gas flaring. "My intention was to tell a story that has not been told in Alberta before -- that industry does have a dark side."

Kroll said most of the arson, wellhead and pipeline sabotage and explosions happened in the Peace River area, though figures cover the entire province.
Nikiforuk also shines a light on the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, an independent agency within the Energy Department, which he claims has sacrificed landowners' health to maximize oil revenues. Board members are appointed by government and want to keep industry happy, he said.

"It does not want to upset the goose that lays the golden egg."

Greg Gilbertson, spokesperson for the EUB, said the board is committed to fair and responsible development. "We truly believe we are doing this in the public interest and would never compromise on public safety or environmental issues," he said.

The EUB is currently implementing 87 recommendations delivered in December by an advisory committee on public safety and sour gas, he said.

Nikiforuk said the Alberta Energy Company, which figures prominently in the book, forbade its employees from talking to him.

Alan Boras, spokesperson for Alberta's sixth-richest company, said he won't comment on the book because he hasn't read it.

"The oil industry is obviously a big player and it would stand to reason there would be areas of discontent and areas that need to be improved," said Boras. "We are constantly trying to improve our impact on the environment as is our industry."

BEYOND WIEBO
Other areas covered in the book:
- The shooting death of Karman Willis at the Trickle Creek farm on June 20, 1999.

- The shooting of Patrick Kent of KB Resources by rancher Wyn Roberts near Bowden in December 1995. Roberts is currently serving a 15-year sentence at Edmonton Correctional Centre for murder.

- The RCMP's Operation Kabriole, the investigation into oilpatch vandalism in Peace Country, which lead to the RCMP blowing up a well site to establish credibility for informant Robert Wraight.

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