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The Beginning
Water contamination... not a new subject or story to many people, but it's something that does not come out in the open very often. Sure there is the movie based on real events, "Erin Brockovich", and many Canadians should remember the "Walkerton Tainted Water Scandal". This is a new story out of Canada. Northern Alberta, Canada to be exact, in a little town called Worsley. Population: approximately 50. This town's economy relies heavily on the forestry industry and the oil/gas industry. Many gas pipelines run through and around the town of Worsley. Companies such as Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) and Baytex have quite a large investment into the town and surrounding areas. There are also numerous natural gas processing plants in the area as well. In fact, there was a tank fire there in 1997, but you'll be hard pressed to find the story about that on the internet.
Our story begins around April 2000, with one of the residents of Worsley, a former employee of these gas and oil companies, Jim Reamsbottom. A father of four children, three of which were born prior to 2000, he's a simple man who lived in a secluded area on the outskirts of town. His water is diverted from a local creek, to a dugout for his personal use, since there are no treatment plants there. His property is between two separate gas processing plants approximately on half mile away from his property on either side. One night in early 2000, Jim witnessed excessive flaring coming from both plants. Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold. It disposes of the gas while releasing emissions into the atmosphere. Gas processing plants remove the water, hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and natural gas liquids from the raw natural gas to produce the market-ready natural gas. This excessive flaring took place for two months straight at one of these plants and has never stopped, even since they produced a sulfur acidification program and documents. Jim said the flares were large enough to read a book by at two in the morning, even with the light from the flaring one half mile away.
Now, Jim worked for one of these plants in late 1995 through 1996. In his time working there, he witnessed a breach in the spill containment berm surrounding the plant (see video documentation here). The breach was in the southeast corner of the processing plant property near the flare stack. For the time he was working there, and any time afterwards, the breach was never repaired. The plant had been struck by lightning two times prior to 2000, which caused a leak of contaminants.
June of 2000 brought a lot of rain to the area (four inches), and a spring runoff to the west of Jim's house (also the direction of the plant he worked at) was flowing with water for the first time in many years. There is also a field in the southwest direction of Jim's house where a fenced in area was put up at this time by one of Jim's neighbors, an owner of a herd of cattle. Around mid to late June fifty cows with calves were placed in this fenced in area to feed on the brome grass. The field was never disturbed prior to this other than for harvest.
July 6, 2000 began with non stop cow calls and continued day and night up until July 9. On that morning around 6:30AM Jim awoke to reduced sounds coming from the cows. He looked out his front window and saw a cow laying on the ground, with it's legs straight out and not touching. He went out to the field and upon further examination, noticed the stomach area was severely enlarged, to the point that it looked like it was just about to burst. There was no loose skin, and the nostrils and anus were festered with bubbles. This was one of three dead cows found that morning.
The rest of the cows that were alive were mothers with one or two calves. Many of the cows were down on the ground, others staggering around, looking disoriented. The calves were beginning to look the same way, due to the fact that they were feeding on breast milk. Jim contacted the cattle owners and informed them of the situation. They came down to the field, and of course were very upset. Jim had mentioned to them in passing that the containment berm was open under the flare stack at the plant to the west, approximately 100 meters away from where they were standing.
At this point Lothar Reucker (Canadian Natural Resources Plant Manager) had stopped at the well with no containment berm 100 meters away, got out, saw Jim and the cattle owners in the field, and immediately got back into his truck and left without saying anything to anyone.
Jim then went back to his house and contacted Gregg Smith of Alberta Environment and told him that there was a containment berm that was open under an active flare stack. Jim had explained to Gregg that when he worked for that plant (CNRL), Lothar Reucker instructed him to dig out the existing breach with a shovel and release the contents.
Gregg Smith then drove out to meet Jim and the cattle owners. Jim instructed him where tests should be conducted. What was the test? It was a routine water analysis, on a containment berm release. Certainly not a proper test for a chemical/sodium release from a containment berm.
The story does not end with this though. Jim has been conducting research and collecting samples on his own for many years after this, and has some astounding revelations. Astounding enough, that it got the attention of the oil/gas companies in the area, and his life has not been the same since.
Child Abduction
Fast forward to 2002... Jim has been gathering information on the contamination of the local rivers for a while now, including but not limited to: sample analyses, video documentation, audio recordings of major players, satellite images of natural gas leaks, and thousands of pages of correspondence with the oil/gas companies, Alberta Environment, Alberta Energies and Utilities Board, and Sharp Environmental.
On June 25, 2002 Jim filed a Statement of Claim (Action # 0204-00502) against the following defendants: 1) Baytex Energy Ltd. 2) Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) 3) Conoco Canada Inc. 4) Keyspan Energy Canada Inc.
At the time Jim had enlisted the help of Denise A. Minue of Dobko, Logan, Innes and Hughes Law Firm. She in turn enlisted the help of other law firms; Mathieu Hryniuk and Simpson and Thietke & Associates. Not long after this, the law firms returned Jim's retainer, claiming the case was "too big for their firms". Jim later learned that at the time, Denise was only a student of law.
Around March, 2005, Charity Ostrem, the mother of Jim's children, left their home, children, and personal belongings. This was done of her own free will and was finalized in April. Jim had also talked to Mary Biggs of Human Resources (Peace River Division) seeking funding for a babysitter for his children and to discuss Charity's behavior due to long term heavy metal poisoning. He said her behavior was to such a point that she could not conduct her persons effectively and responsibly in the presence of her children, spouse, and others that came in contact with her. Jim stated that he loved her very much and that this situation was carried on due to the holding back of records by the Human Resources Division. Those records contained evidence of liquid industrial waste being transported through natural gas pipeline systems. Also being held back were medical records and the actions of others over the last 5 years by Human Resources and Mistahia Health Care personnel. Mary Biggs indicated that she could not help with aid for a babysitter and referred Jim to Sherri Pawlyshyn at Child and Family Services Division - Fairview Branch. Mary Biggs stated she would phone Sheri and explain Jim's problem of needing funds for a babysitter so Jim could work and take care of the needs of his children.
Around April 18, Jim went to see Sheri Pawlyshyn at Child and Family Services. He took his kids with him as well. She had asked him personal questions about the reasons for the separation. It upset him to talk about these events. The kids saw this, which made them upset as well. Jim explained to his children that it makes daddy feel better to talk about these things. Sheri then gave Jim a bundle of papers and said she would be in touch. Jim told here she was welcome to stop by his house anytime for tea and to see his house. When he left, he looked at the papers and realized they dealt with husband abuse. Also unknown to Jim at the time was that the CFSA division did not have funding for a babysitter. But Sheri Pawlyshyn took up Jim's offer to visit the house anyway...
Sheri Pawlyshyn and Suzanne McGeough made an unannounced stop at Jim's home. The sky was clear and warm with a slight breeze as the two ladies pulled up in the driveway. The children were cautioned of the incoming SUV. Two of the boys were running around by the trampoline and back and forth to the service truck. The two boys were having fun playing tag and the other two children were with Jim. Jim was looking for parts in his truck for a robot his son Michael was building. The vehicle stopped and the two women stepped out. After introductions the women were invited to a picnic table where the three adults sat along with Kalie, Jim's daughter. After some small talk Jim invited the two women into the house for coffee or tea. Jim gave them a tour of the house and they commented how clean and organized everything was. Jim then began to discuss his court actions with them and showed them numerous documentations dealing with water contamination and explained to them that the date for discoveries in court for all of this was December 1, 2005. He gave Suzanne a copy of the Ministers Report before they left. On September 14, 2005 Jim received a letter from Mary Biggs stating he was not eligible for the funding he requested.
Between September 15 and September 30, 2005 Jim received a disturbing phone call from Sheri Pawlyshyn. She began an argument with Jim about him not having a new mother in the home. Jim stated that the only reason he came to her was for babysitter funding and she had no business telling Jim who he should have laying in his bed. Sheri Pawlyshyn then said things to Jim about the direction of his oilfield case. This last statement flipped a "caution switch" in Jim's mind and he went downstairs to his office and turned on his telephone recording system. By this time Sheri was yelling and threatening Jim with R.C.M.P. actions if he did not go to her office for a voluntary assessment. Jim then cut in on Sheri's yelling and said "Sheri Pawlyshyn I am recording you on the oilfield recording system and you just threatened me with RCMP action if I did not go into your voluntary assessments. You forgot that I came to you to attain funds for a babysitter and that was to fulfill Mary Biggs requirements so I would be eligible for funding. Don't forget your office holds a filed copy of the Ministers report in your possession. Where is it?" Sheri immediately began backpedaling.
On November 22, 2005 Jim got up around 6:15AM and worked on some paperwork for his Court of the Queen's Bench Action until 7:00AM. He then got his three boys up for school. His daughter Kalie was with her mother. The boys got on their bus for school at 7:40AM and Jim went and had some coffee and typed more on his case for another hour and then went about doing some house chores. At approximately 9:00AM there was a banging at his door. Jim opened the door and saw it was Cam Ritchie and Dang Nguyen of the local RCMP. Cam Ritchie asked Jim if anyone else was at the house and Jim said no. Then, without warning, the two police officers grabbed Jim and dragged him out onto the doorstep, spun him around 180 degrees, and handcuffed him. Now standing outside, one of the officers threw Jim's head and upper body to the floor. There was no resistance from Jim . At this point, Jim was face down and his waist, bare feet, and legs were outside in the November snow.
Terrified by the two attackers, Jim did not move a muscle or speak. Now out of breath due to having Dang’s knee firmly pressed into his back, Jim said quietly, "I have a bone chip floating near my neck, please don't, please." The pressure was slightly eased up and then reapplied. With Dang's knee still in place, he grabbed Jim's head and lifted and turned it so Jim could see over his right shoulder. Dang's two hands were holding up Jim's head and his right knee was grinding into Jim's spine. With Dang holding him in this fashion, Cam Ritchie placed his right hand flat on Jim's spine in the middle above Dang's knee. Cam Ritchie then pressed down hard and Jim screamed in pain. Dang yelled "Listen Up!" and gave Jim's head a forcible shake. Then Cam Ritchie drew his face near to where Jim could barely see him over his right shoulder. Cam Ritchie said loud and clear:
"You will keep your mouth shut and not say a word about Scott Watson, Canadian Natural Resources, or Lothar Reucker. Forget Gregg Smith, Jeremy Spencer, and Hans Peters. This issue is now closed, and you better sell this place and move if you want your kids back. Since you are broke, I have a $500.00 fine to collect, so you are off to Peace River Jail for 10 days."
When Jim asked about his children, Cam said "Don't worry we will take care of them" and laughed.