Bomba vs. The Forest Oil Corporation

I went to give one of my 'Don't drill Abruzzo' talks the other day in Bomba - population 920 in the wintertime and about 2000 in the summer.

I am so proud of Abruzzo, I am so pround of Bomba. The Forest Oil Corporation of Denver thought that we were just a bunch of ignorant farmers. They thought that we would not fight
their plans to turn us into an oil and gas field. They thought that the promise of puny gas discounts was going to appease us, the people.

They were wrong. They were dead wrong.

I met the most excellent people in Bomba - biologists, geologists and chemists who may live far from Bomba, but who got together in November 2009 and dubunked the entire environmental statement report submitted by the Forest Oil Corporation, headed by Mr. Craig Clark. I also sent in my own review. About 200 people sent letters of opposition to the offices who are supposed to evaluate and approve or reject this plan. We all said no.

What the Forest Oil Corporation wants to do is crazy. There is a fragile dam in Bomba that was built in the 1950s on land that is so geologically unstable, it could not be made in cement. They had to use dirt sloped at a 45 degree angle. There are mudslides all the time, the land is highly seismic. ENI gave up drilling because of subsidence dangers and fears.

It is the craziest place to drill for natural gas.

The Forest Oil Corporation of Denver not only wants to drill several wells about 500 feet from town, they also want to build a refinery. The gas they will extract is sour, full of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that smells of rotten eggs and that at high enough dosages is lethal. The refinery is meant to separate natural gas, mostly methane, from the rest, including H2S.

The rest will go into people's home.

The Forest Oil corporation themselves wrote in their environmental statement that they will exceed legal limits for pollutants. The Forest Oil corporation themselves wrote that winds are such that emissions from the refinery they intend to build will hit the center of town. Everyday for the next 12 years at least. People know this already, because about one year ago the Forest Oil Corporation of Denver was testing their wells and lit an enormous flame that released rotten odor gas that permeated town for three days. People also heard a loud noise and slight tremors.

The Forest Oil Corporation already built a large toxic waste pit, to be filled with all their drilling muds and garbage that comes from underground.

Shameless.

Mr. Craig Clerk of the Forest Oil Corporation, Mr. Brian O'Cathain of Petroceltic, Mr. Sergio Morandi of Medoil and Gas.

Once more.
The entire region of Abruzzo will not let you turn this place into an oil field.
We don't want you here.
Please leave us alone.
If you really must drill, go drill your own communities.