FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 2000. All Rights Reserved

News by Jack Locke Sour gas survivors to speak Concerns over recent sour gas developments have prompted some Albertans to hold a "survivors’ meeting" on October 15 at Shepard Hall on the southeast outskirts of Calgary. And no one knows the concerns more than Florence White. A farmer living in the Shepard area, White was hit by a cloud of sour gas in 1998. But when the treatment she received from the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) earlier this year was even more unpleasant, she and others decided to take action. Since 1962, Florence and her husband Gerald have farmed on land a five-minute drive from MacKenzie Towne. In early spring 1998, Florence says she was outside on the family deck when she came around the corner of her home and was hit by a pocket of sour gas that likely escaped from a nearby well. Hydrogen sulphide – the dangerous compound in sour gas – is a known killer. In White’s case, she was able to get indoors and get help from her husband. "I couldn’t breathe. I lost my eyesight. I was choking. I couldn’t call for help. Somehow I was able to get into the house. But I couldn’t speak," she says. Recently, White and others tried to stop Dynegy Canada Ltd.’s application to extend the life of its Chestermere sour gas pipeline, which cuts beneath the White’s land. The pipeline, built by Canterra Energy Ltd. in 1984, was originally granted a 15-year operating permit by the EUB to carry gas to the Mazeppa gas plant east of High River. The EUB gave Dynegy an extension in March and ordered the company and two landowners to develop a plan for decommissioning the pipeline as development and urban encroachment occurs. "The plan was to be completed by October 1, but no plan has been completed and the parties have asked the EUB for an extension of time," says Dynegy spokesperson Bernie Patterson. The survivors’ meeting will give people who have had similar experiences as the Whites a chance to tell their stories in a public venue. Bill Campbell from Tilston, Manitoba, and well-known Rocky Mountain House veterinarian Martha Kostuch are expected to speak. The meeting is Sunday, October 15 at 1 p.m. at Shepard Hall (114 St. and 84 Ave. S.E.). The meeting is open to the public, unlike the behind-closed-doors meetings of the EUB Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Sour Gas conducted with Albertans this past summer. For more information call 279-9032

| Back To This Issue Table of Contents | Back To Main Index |