News Release May 10, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EUB DENIES REQUEST FOR INQUIRY INTO OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS IN HYTHE-BEAVERLODGE AREA

Calgary, Alberta (May 10, 2000) On October 21, 1998 the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB/Board) received a letter on behalf of the Ludwig, Schilthuis, Boonstra, Wraight, Bryzgorni, and Johnstone families, and Dr. William O. Scott, all of whom at the time lived near Hythe and Beaverlodge, Alberta. The letter, and an additional supporting letter dated November 24, 1998, requested that the EUB hold an inquiry into oil and gas activity in their area. The request expressed health and environmental complaints about emissions from petroleum operations in the area, as well as concerns about alleged increasing community frustration and intentional damage to petroleum facilities. The application was made under section 22 of the Energy Resources Conservation Act, which allows the Board to conduct an inquiry into matters related to oil and gas operations.

During the Board's consideration of this request, Weibo Ludwig and Richard Boonstra were charged with criminal offences related to damage of oil and gas facilities in northwestern Alberta. On March 8, 1999 the Board issued a letter to the applicants' legal counsel indicating that it would defer consideration of the inquiry request until criminal proceedings had concluded. The trial of the two individuals resulted in convictions being entered against them on April 19, 2000.

Today, the Board is denying the request for an inquiry. Primary reasons include the following:

• Oil and gas operations identified by the applicants have been conducted in compliance with the terms of the respective companies' approvals, licenses and permits within provincial environmental standards. Only a minimal number of exceptions have occurred, and in those instances individual companies and the EUB have taken appropriate action.
• There is no objective evidence that the deleterious effects identified by the applicants are caused by the lawful activities of energy companies operating in the Hythe area.
• The applicants, especially those at Trickle Creek farm (of the Ludwig, Schilthuis and Boonstra families), have consistently demonstrated a lack of cooperation over the years in participating in reasonable efforts initiated by the EUB, industry, and other government agencies to find solutions to their concerns or that could have substantiated their complaints.

An example of this unwillingness occurred in the spring of 1998. At that time the Ludwigs had agreed to participate in a meeting to be held June 4, 1998 in Beaverlodge. They retained legal counsel, chose a neutral facilitator, and hired an environmental consultant. They worked with the facilitator and agreed to the meeting agenda. The EUB and three companies funded the costs of the Ludwigs' participation. The other applicants, with the exception of Mr. Allan Johnstone, chose not to participate.

On June 4, 1998, about 60 members from the public, companies, government agencies (Alberta Environment, Alberta Health and Wellness, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development) and EUB staff were in attendance at the Beaverlodge Community Hall. The Ludwigs arrived late and refused to participate, apart from reading a prepared statement to the effect that the meeting was an inappropriate forum in which to discuss their concerns. They then left the meeting. In the Board's view, the meeting could have led to an ongoing process whereby appropriate medical, veterinary, soil, water and air testing could have been conducted with the Ludwigs' input. Through their last-minute refusal to participate, they rejected this reasonable approach to address their specific complaints.

The family had also refused earlier offers from oil and gas companies to assist them in this regard. They have shown little, if any, interest in cooperating with objective testing of air, soil and water on their properties. Direct offers of assistance by the EUB and industry to conduct tests have met with outright rejection. Given the lack of objective evidence and the unwillingness to participate in processes that would help gather such evidence, the October 1998 request for a public inquiry for reasons of human and animal health concerns cannot be supported.

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This news release and the EUB Response to Inquiry Request is available on the EUB web site at www.ercb.ca

For further information please contact:
Simone Marler, Communications Leader
EUB Communications
Tel: (403) 297-8552
Fax: (403) 297-3757

MR 2000-26