Thursday, January 15, 2009

On Wednesday, Canadian energy company EnCana announced that it would pay a C$500,000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in four bombings of its natural gas pipelines. The explosions have occurred over the past three months in northeastern British Columbia.

While the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been investigating the situation since the first explosion in October, there are still no suspects. Some residents in the area are vocally opposed to EnCana’s gas exploration, and have not been cooperative, according to the RCMP.

“There is a small group of individuals within the community who we have spoken to many times,” RCMP Sergeant Tim Shields noted. “They know full well who they are, and they have not been co-operative. And we are appealing to those people to do the right thing and come forward to our investigators and tell us what they know.”

The four bombings, which targeted pipelines, wellheads and a metering shed in the Tomslake community, have not injured anyone. Encana fears that residents or its employees may not be so lucky if there are further bombings. EnCana executive vice-president Mike Graham commented that, “Whoever is responsible for these bombings has to be stopped before someone gets hurt. We hope this reward will encourage anyone who has knowledge of those responsible for the bombings to come forward and help put an end to these dangerous attacks.”

The reward has elicited over a dozen tips since its announcement. While some of the tips have been “very low quality,” the RCMP remains hopeful and will continue to process all leads.

Rewards of smaller amounts may be paid out for information that aids the investigation but does not directly lead to an arrest. “After consulting with the RCMP and the Crown assigned to the prosecution, EnCana will determine the monetary value, if any, of the information provided to the investigation,” noted Graham.