ALIDA, SASK.âThe front door of the Gervais farmhouse is little more than a stoneâs throw to some of the tens of thousands of batteries, pump jacks and flare stacks that burn off the gaseous residues of the provinceâs oil boom.Louis Gervais has lived here his whole life and, with his wife, Lucille, and their children, has farmed the surrounding acres. They have earned part of their livelihood from the 17 oil wells and tanks that started appearing on their land â as close as 200 metres from the family home â when 67-year-old Louis was only 5.His parents, like many Saskatchewan farmers, bought into the promise of oil. And it paid off, helping to amass a sprawling property with its two homes and a vast collection of antique cars.When the Star first travelled to the Gervais farm last year, Louis dismissed concerns about the health impacts from the nearby oil facilities, saying he was reassured by the provinceâs oversight of the industry.âNothing has ever happened here yet, so thatâs why weâre not worried,â he said then.But the Gervaisesâ sense of reassurance about living beneath the trailing black clouds rising from nearby flares has changed in recent months.Read more:That rotten stench in the air? Itâs the smell of deadly gas and secrecyPollution from Canadian refineries an âembarrassmentâ compared with U.S.Toxic gas nearly killed this oil worker. His employer never told the provinceProvincial incident reports and new âoff the chartâ air quality indicators reveal public health concerns reaching across southeastern Saskatchewan that have gone unpublicized, and unpunished, for years. The readings were gathered by researchers from Northeastern and Harvard universities, who are working with a national collaboration of journalists from the Toronto Star, Global News, the National Observer, the University of Regina and the Institute for Investigative Journalism at Concordia Univ ...
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