Wiebo Ludwig says frustration and fear can lead people to take the law into their own hands. (CBC)

An Alberta farmer who spent nearly two years in prison on charges related to the bombing of oil and gas installations in the 1990s says he hasn't been contacted by police regarding two recent pipeline bombings near Dawson Creek, B.C.

Wiebo Ludwig lives just across the B.C.-Alberta border, near Hythe, Alta., which is about 70 kilometres southeast of Dawson Creek.

Ludwig said he's very moved by what his neighbours in B.C. are going through in the face of oil and gas development.

"It bothers me a lot," he said Sunday. "The other day I did cry about it. I don't look like an emotional man, really, but I did."

Ludwig was released from prison in 2001 after serving two-thirds of a 28-month sentence on five charges related to bombings and other vandalism against oil and gas wells in 1997 and 1998, causing damage totalling millions of dollars.

He said he has never planted bombs but he wanted to stop the oil and gas industry after he thought no one was listening to residents' concerns about energy exploration. He had complained that gas was poisoning his family.

Now, he said, a message is being sent and someone needs to listen.

"I've been there. I've wanted to do terrible things to the industry because of what was happening to us here, not because I want to pay them back but to stop them somehow because they wouldn't listen," Ludwig said.

"When you get to that point, you just say you gotta do something to shake them up."

Two recent pipeline bombings near Dawson Creek, B.C., have the surrounding communities worried about deadly sour gas. (CBC)

In the past week, two explosive devices have erupted under two sour gas pipelines southeast of Dawson Creek.

The first explosion blew a 1.8-metre crater in the ground near a sour gas pipeline last Saturday. The second blast, just four days later, blew a small leak in another pipeline 20 km from the first.

No one was injured in the explosions, which occurred in remote areas, but the bombings have raised concerns a sour gas leak could release toxic gas into nearby communities.

The RCMP's explosive disposal unit and the forensic identification section conducted a grid search around the site of the second explosion Sunday.

Pickup truck sought

Investigators are also looking into reports from two local hunters of a suspicious vehicle leaving the area of the second explosion. It's described as a new model, full-sized pickup truck with square LED lights and extended mirrors with turn signals.

Meanwhile, the company that owns the pipeline, energy giant EnCana Corp., is beefing up security, said community relations adviser Brian Lieverse.

"We want to see if we have anybody on those pipelines that shouldn't be there. We are also looking for any disturbances along the pipelines."

But even with extra police and security, people are uneasy. More than 200 residents showed up at a town hall meeting Friday night to express their concerns.

"If something were to go wrong, my horses would be in danger from the gas," said resident Heather Bardget.

This frustration and fear don't come as any surprise to Ludwig.

"That drives people to the point where they have to take the law in their own hands and they don't even take the law in their own hands, they take something more than the law in their own hands," he said. "Something to do with justice that is beyond the law because our laws don't embrace it."