FOX VALLEY, Sask. – As Perry Anton lowered his young son into the bathtub one night, he broke down and began to cry.
“I looked down and saw these oily spots floating on the water,” he recalled. “I don’t even know if they were there, but I thought I might be killing my son by giving him a bath.”
Anton said stress led to his suspicion of the water – stress from a five-year-long struggle to find out why dugouts near his ranch home are toxic.
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“It’s changed us,” said his wife, Charlotte. “This ranch was going to be our life.”
“We wanted to pass it on for a fourth generation,” added Perry. “Now we’re uncertain whether this place will have a future.”
The Anton ranch, about 18 kilometres east of Fox Valley on the edge of the Great Sand Hills in southwestern Saskatchewan, has been the family home for more than 70 years.
In 1992, Anton noticed several cattle became ill, and some died, after drinking from a dugout located on crown land near a natural gas compressing station owned by Ocelot Energy of Calgary.
Tests showed three dugouts were toxic and the family was advised to quit drinking the water in their home.
Not at fault
While Ocelot agrees there is a problem with the water, the company says its practices are not the cause.
Anton worked at the compressor station after it opened in 1988, but was laid off in June 1994 while on long-term disability due to stress.
He said the ordeal has also left the family in debt.
He doesn’t have a job, and income from the ranch has dropped as he sold off dry cows and others gave birth to deformed calves. He once had 150 cows, but is down to 100.
The Antons are $85,000 in debt to Agricultural Credit Corporation of Saskatchewan, which has begun foreclosing. They also owe their local credit union and have bills worth at least $71,000 for studies, legal bills and veterinary bills.
One year ago, in a letter to the Antons’ lawyer, Ocelot Energy offered to purchase the ranch, excluding the house, for $370,000 plus up to $5,000 in legal costs in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The offer was declined.
Anton has asked the provincial environment department to investigate Ocelot’s practices. The department has offered to study his cattle instead.
Anton said that isn’t good enough because wildlife also drink from the dugouts.
“The water is a public concern,” he said.
