Wiebo Arienes Ludwig (19 December 1941 – 9 April 2012) was the leader of a Christian community named Trickle Creek, just outside Hythe, Alberta, Canada.
[1] From the early 1990s until the time that he died, Ludwig consistently accused the industry of poisoning his family and farm through their attempts to extract toxic sour gas from the Peace River region of Alberta.
Ludwig completed his pastoral education at the Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
[3] After Ludwig completed his pastoral education, his initial application for ordination was rejected, possibly because his leadership style was perceived as being too authoritarian.
[5] In the early 1990s, oil companies in northern Alberta began building sour gas wells on land they owned near Trickle Creek.
[3] Latterly, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has acknowledged that "hydrogen sulfide in the air is an irritant and a chemical asphyxiant that can alter both oxygen utilization and the (human) central nervous system".
A few days after these explosions, Ludwig stated: "If the oil companies run roughshod over your lives, you have to take defensive action against them, whatever is necessary... You can't just let them kill your children.
[3] He was convicted of five offenses, including blowing up one well, vandalizing another by pouring concrete into it, and counseling an undercover police officer to buy dynamite.
[4] No one was ever charged with the death, and local residents still refer to the exact nature of events that happened on the night of the shooting as "a mystery".
[12] In 2003 a made-for-TV movie was produced, Burn: The Robert Wraight Story, which was based on the life of an informant who had cooperated with the RCMP to provide evidence supporting Ludwig's conviction.
[15] In 2008, a series of letters threatening local gas companies was anonymously sent to the Dawson Creek Daily News and Coffee Talk Express in Chetwynd, B.C.
[3] Following the bombings Encana offered a reward of up to a million dollars for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the bomber.
The RCMP found evidence which they believed was incriminating during the search, including potassium nitrate (an explosive chemical), 75 grams of marijuana, some chemistry books, handwritten notes which police believed detailed the location of hidden weapons, and notebooks full of information on Dawson Creek, the Canadian government, oil pipelines, and the oil and gas industry.
Ludwig explained that the potassium nitrate was for toy rockets, that the marijuana was an anaesthetic, and that the chemistry texts were for homeschooling the community's children.
In the same year Ludwig was also the subject of a documentary, Wiebo's War, which treated his life and conflict with the oil and gas industry sympathetically.
In February 2012, Ludwig built his own coffin, and he did his final media interview with journalist Byron Christopher.