After going to the site in Northwest Alberta, mounties are saying that vandals apparently used heavy equipment to vandalize the pipeline, according to The Star.
“It is believed a piece of construction equipment was used to dig up some of the pipeline, which caused severe damage to the pipeline,” said Grande Prairie RCMP Const. Michelle Mosher. Luckily, the unnamed pipeline was still under construction and nothing was spilled.
Mosher said this was the first time in her career that she had seen vandalism on this scale in an oilfield. But the area is no stranger to vandalism and sometimes it can get violent, reports the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
The Star Phoenix points to the hundreds of acts of vandalism against the natural gas industry that took place in the 1980s and 1990s in northwest Alberta, with many of the vandals singling out AEC West, a company operating wells near Trickle Creek.
In 2000, Wiebo Ludwig was convicted of taking part in the bombing of a Suncor well site near his home in Hythe, as well as vandalizing a Norcen Energy well by pouring concrete into it and trying to get an RCMP informant to buy him explosives.
Hythe is about 500 kilometers (311 miles) northwest of Edmonton. Damages to the pipeline are estimated to be between $500,000 and $700,000. Mosher is encouraging anyone who may have seen something out of the ordinary to contact the police.
“Sometimes in remote areas the people who live in the areas recognize different people and different vehicles that they don’t normally see,” she said. “If there’s any suspicious people or things, please come forward with that information.”