Congratulations to a Calgary-area ranching family who fought
Imperial Oil for what they believed and won.
A $70,000
judgment from the courts in favor of Ball Ranch, after a seven year dispute and
court case, certainly won’t put them on easy-street, but it will give Craig and
Susan Graham, and Susan’s mother Agnes Ball, some belief there is justice.
In a ruling yesterday (February 12) the Alberta Court of
Queens Bench ordered Imperial Oil to pay the Grahams $70,000 for damages after
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gas pipeline on the ranch in 2002. A lawyer for the ranch says considering
losses and legal costs they should have been awarded as much as $150,000.
“We had weak calves, premature calves, sick calves, dead
calves and we lost some cows, as well,” said Susan Graham in an interview with
The Calgary Herald. “We had never experienced anything like that with our herd
– ever.”
The sour gas line had been leaking in or near a pasture
where the cattle were grazing, and when the company came into repair it several
barrels of water from an excavation were pumped out onto the pasture, although
The court ruled in December that at least some of the
ranch’s cattle had been exposed to hydrocarbon contamination, which resulted in
calving losses and yesterday made the damages award.
While Imperial Oil says it is proud of its environmental
record, a University of Calgary law professor says part of the court’s ruling
suggests this case could have been settled out of court much faster and at much
less cost. It suggests, says the professor, “that oil and gas companies will
play hardball with landowners.”
