A mother of children who attend an Alberta 4-H centre says thousands of 4-H children’s lives will be in danger if two wells containing sour gas are allowed to be drilled near the centre’s sleeping quarters.
“My concern is for the safety of these children,” said Joan Fossen of Cadogan.
“The little bit of money waved in front of the 4-H Foundation is nothing compared to the damage than can be done to 18,000 4-H members,” she told an Alberta Federation of Surface Rights meeting.
Fossen urged the surface rights’ members to encourage 4-H children to write to both the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and the 4-H Foundation, asking them to stop the drilling.
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The late Grant MacEwen, former lieutenant governor and conservationist, donated some of the money used to buy the 143 acres of land in the picturesque Battle River Valley southwest of Edmonton.
Fossen said that in a short video about the Alberta 4-H Centre, Mac-Ewen talked about the importance of conserving, preserving and protecting areas of land. Drilling sour gas wells on land dedicated to conservation would have appalled him, she said.
“4-H is a good organization, but the people running it made some bad decisions.”
Fossen wants enough 4-H families to write letters so the drilling is stopped and another nearby sour gas is removed.
Bill Andrew, president of Penn West Petroleum, said the gas in the oil pool to be drilled is “slightly sour,” but children at the nearby facilities wouldn’t be in danger.
Gas is called sour gas when it contains hydrogen sulfide.
“We would take every precaution to make it safe,” he said.
While Andrew said a 4-H letter-writing campaign wouldn’t stop the drilling, the price of oil – which has sunk to $17 US a barrel – is another story.
“At today’s $17 we wouldn’t drill them.”
However, the wells are still on the books if the price of oil increases, he added.
According to an Environmental Utilities Board report sent to Fossen, Penn West has 178 spills and pipeline breaks on EUB files. Fossen said she wants to learn more about the company’s clean-up record.
Andrew said most of the spills and breaks were related to facilities
acquired from other companies.
“We are in the top percentile in pipeline integrity in the province. We concern ourselves very much with the environment.”
Members of the 4-H Foundation, which runs the centre, did not return calls.
