In documents released to the CBC, SWN Resources Canada (original established in Texas), intends to sue thirteen anti-shale demonstrators.
SWN has been in conflict with the Elsipogtog and Mi’kmaq First Nations – and defended by the Mi’kmaq Warrior Society and its allies – since June of this year.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) moved into the warrior camp and blockade October 24, 2013, which led to over forty arrests as activists tried to defend their traditional territory from potential fracking to remove shale gas.
The blockade site was near the town of Rexton, New Brunswick, and has revitalized the Idle No More movement. Solidarity blockades occurred in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
The company has lost $650,000 since the protests began, according to an affidavit by Christopher Cainsford-Betty, a staff operations geophysicist for Southwestern Energy Company, the parent company of SWN.
A drill rig worth $380,000 was destroyed by fire, and geophones and trucks were vandalized, the affidavit filed by Cainsford-Betty with the Court of Queen’s Bench in Moncton in October states.
According to an affidavit by Christopher Cainsford-Betty, who serves as a staff operations geo-physicist for SWN, the company claims it has lost $650,000 since the demonstrations began. The figure includes the cost of a drill rig worth $380,000 that was destroyed and other trucks and properties that were vandalized.
In addition, the company claims that every hour the machines and crews aren’t working costs it a minimum of $5,000.
The issue is now in the hands of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Moncton, New Brunswick.
Some of the trucks carried seismic equipment used in fracking and resource exploration. Citizens of the Elsipogtog and Mi’kmaq First Nations stated time and time again that they feared fracking would poison their water. The dangerous of fracking are numerous.
For example, there is the famous YouTube video by Scott Cannon of methane gas travelling with the water through his pipes so it can be lit on fire.
It’s reported that some of the respondents to the claim filed by SWN are Loraine Clair, Jim Pictou, Seven Bernard, Jason Okay, Greg Cook, Wilhelmina (‘Willi’) Noland, Melanie Elward, Jean-Sebastien Theriault, Ann Pohl, Rachel Daigle, Suzanne Patles, John Doe and Jane Doe.
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