NOTE: The second article, referred to here as the "recent blog posting", was written by Madeleine Gruen. She is a Senior Analyst with the NEFA Foundation. She previously worked in the Counterterrorism Bureau of the NYPD as an Intelligence Analyst, analyzing terrorist and extremist-group capabilities and intentions; maintaining current knowledge of terrorist tradecraft and means of support, analyzing leads; and anticipating future tactical trends. She is the author of numerous articles and presentations for senior-level officials in law enforcement and the intelligence community.
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Chemical Facility Security News

Possible Eco-terrorist Attacks on Canadian Gas Pipeline

Monday, October 27, 2008

http://chemical-facility-security-news.blogspot.com/2008/10/possible-eco-terrorist-attacks-on.html



According to a recent blog posting on CounterTerrorismBlog.org, two separate explosive attacks on a 'sour gas' pipeline near Dawson Creek, BC are being blamed on 'eco-terrorists' by the "former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service". The RCMP has not been willing to call the bombings 'terrorist attacks', preferring the term vandalism. Vandals, however, do not usually warn their targets to get out of town.



Stop the 'Deadly Gas'



The term eco-terrorist covers a lot of ground. This does not look or sound like one of the better known groups like the Animal Liberation Front or the Earth Liberation Front. The letters sent to local newspapers before the first bombing did not name any group. Instead the letters just attacked the energy companies for their 'deadly' gas wells in the area and called those energy companies 'terrorists'. And, it warned them to shut down their gas wells and get out of town.



The 'deadly gas' is natural gas being pumped out of the ground. It is called 'sour gas' because it is contaminated with relatively small amounts of hydrogen sulfide. Well, 'relatively small amounts of hydrogen sulfide' is misleading. With concentrations of about 0.07% in the gas, it does lend some toxicity concerns to significant releases of this material.



Presumably this is why the letter writer complained that "as you keep on endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our homelands" according to the local paper.



Eco-terrorists Attacks



This could very easily be a single person rather than an organization conducting this 'terror campaign'. This would not be unusual for a so-called eco-terrorist attack. They tend to be executed by small groups and individuals outside of the control of any easily tracked group. This makes these groups harder to pre-empt since they are so difficult to detect and penetrate.



The other characteristic of a eco-terrorist attack is that these bombings were conducted in remote areas were there was little possibility of collateral damage. There was also a certain level of escalation in the two attacks, with the second attack being slightly more 'effective' in that the gas line was actually damaged slightly. Further escalation can probably be expected if there is no 'appropriate' response from the gas companies.



Energy Infrastructure Attacks



This is the second time in a year and a half that there have been energy infrastructure attacks by terrorists in the Americas. Last year there were the very successful attacks on oil pipelines in Mexico by native separatists. Now this eco-terrorist attack on gas pipelines in Canada.



We have not yet seen state sponsored groups or al Qaeda resort to such attacks in the Americas. However, the recent plunge in the price of crude is certainly going to hurt some countries (Iran or Venezuela for instance) that are known to have associations with a variety of terrorist groups. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility that groups sponsored by these countries could try to destabilize the oil markets (and raise crude prices) by attacking oil infrastructure in this country.



Energy Infrastructure Vulnerability



These attacks point out the vulnerability of energy infrastructure, it is widely distributed and thus vulnerable to attack. A successful attack can be visually impressive and have wide spread impact away from the attack site. Pipelines are especially vulnerable to these attacks because they are hard to defend, as are remote pump sites. Storage sites may be less vulnerable, but promise much more impressive 'results' from a successful attack.



Ethanol transportation links are equally vulnerable. Railcars in transit or sitting at transloading stations are just as vulnerable as pipelines. And ethanol has a wide variety of social, economic and environmental detractors. It is not hard to imagine that this legitimate opposition could spawn individuals or small groups that would resort to violence to stop the spread of ethanol use.



To date there have not been any successful terrorist attacks on energy infrastructure in the United States. In today's world that is not necessarily a predicter of continued safety.

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Counterterrorism Blog

Eco-Terrorism Possible Motivation Behind Canada Pipeline Bombs

By Madeleine Gruen

October 23, 2008 09:28

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/10/ecoterrorism_possible_motivati.php



Two bombs detonated along Canada's natural gas pipeline on the border between Alberta and British Columbia in the last two weeks. The first explosion, which occurred on October 11, did not rupture the pipeline but did create an eight-foot wide by four-foot deep crater. The device was placed at a vulnerable point where the pipeline emerges from the ground. The second bomb detonated in the early hours of October 16th and caused a gas leak that forced the energy company to shut the pipeline down temporarily.



The RCMP has not disclosed whether the devices were planted by an individual or a group, but they do believe that the two recent incidents are connected and that there is a connection between the bombings and a letter that was sent to the Dawson Creek Daily News the day prior to the first explosion. The letter warned local gas and oil producers to cease operations and leave the area. The RCMP said that the letter did not contain any specific threats.



The publisher of the Dawson Creek Daily News told the CBC that the local population's anxiety about public safety has risen as a result of the increase of natural gas pipelines in the area.



Although the explosions occurred in an isolated area they could have caused serious damage. The pipeline carries sour gas which contains the highly toxic chemical compound hydrogen sulphide. The RCMP spokesman told the Canadian media that the bombings are being treated as acts of vandalism not as acts of terrorism because they occurred in remote areas and were not intended to harm people.



Whether or not environmental extremist groups should be classified as "terrorists" depends on one's definition of terrorism. Some would argue that you cannot apply the same terms to describe groups that destroy property to cause economic damage as one would to describe groups that attack to inflict mass casualties. However, to describe the attack of gas lines as "vandalism" implies mere mischievousness and does not help the public to recognize that these attacks were politically motivated and were intended to draw attention to a grievance.



The perpetrator detonated two explosive devices within days of one another. The second explosion cracked the pipeline. For the politically motivated bomber to cause this type of damage is encouraging; they were able to attract media and public attention to their grievance, and caused their target economic damage. The attackers probably see their latest attack as successful, but with only a small taste of success it is likely that they will make further attempts to sabotage the pipeline.


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Mac Leod Motto