30-08-04

Dawn Walton's article (Alberta Bees Becoming Forgetful, Less Healthy -- Aug. 26) on the impact of Alberta's notorious sour-gas industry tells just part of one long, disquieting story. More than bees and a $ 200 mm honey industry are now suffering from the effects of sour gas.

In the last 30 years this industry, which produces, flares and leaks highly toxic stuff, has killed nearly 40 oil patch workers, sickened thousands of Albertans, directly displaced more than 100 rural families, generated scores of lawsuits and poisoned untold numbers of cattle and horses.

Sour gas, one of the world's most potent neurotoxins, plainly devalues nearby biological economies. Dairy farmers have documented 25-per-cent decreases in milk production due to sour-gas pollution.

A recent University of Alberta study found that sulphur dioxide, a by-product of sour-gas flaring, damages cattle lungs, suppresses their immune systems and causes them to eat 10 % more feed. A ranching family that lived downwind from a sour-gas battery in Manitoba got so ill that they visited the doctor 46 times a year. After they relocated, their annual visits dropped to 11.

The placement of a sour-gas well just 4 km away can devalue a person's property by as much as 15 %. Yet the Alberta government can still legally plant sour-gas wells 100 metres from homes.

In short, few industries have subtracted as much wealth, security and health from rural Westerners.

Source: The Globe and Mail