Wiebo Ludwig and dozens of other protesters have set up a camp near a sour gas well testing site in northwestern Alberta, near the B.C. border.

More than 45 protesters with signs gathered near the well Sunday morning, but only about a dozen people remained by the evening. All of the demonstrators live on Ludwig's Trickle Creek Ranch property.

Ludwig, 68, said Canadian Superior Energy began testing flares at the site, about two kilometres from his property near Hythe, Alta., Sunday morning.

Ludwig, an environmental activist and convicted vandal, said the group is hoping to put a stop to the development of the "lethal sour gas well."

Renee Ludwig blames the developments for the deaths of several children conceived on the property.

"It would be 12 years ago a well similar to this one just a couple miles north of us vented and flared while I was five weeks pregnant," she said.

"We didn't know it at the time that they were flaring and venting, but eight months later I gave birth to a stillborn child who was severely deformed."

Company's activities legal: ERCB spokesman

Wiebo Ludwig said the protesters are prepared to stay as long as it takes to get their message across.

"Whatever it takes to get some action to stop this thing, because we're very much opposed to it," he said. "We'll play it by ear, but we're prepared to stay a number of weeks if necessary."

Energy Resources and Conservation Board spokesman Bob Curran said the company's activities are "100 per cent legal" and "well within the regulatory framework."

"We've inspected that site several times. The company is doing a good job to make sure that they're being protective of public health and safety."

Curran said the ERCB has done everything it can to mitigate the concerns of the protesters.

"We have investigated every complaint made by Trickle Creek residents over two decades," he said.

"We have made numerous offers to test the water, test the air … we've offered to put them in touch with medical personnel about their complaints of medical distress or that babies were stillborn, and they've rejected every offer that we have made to them over 20 years."

Meanwhile, Canadian Superior Energy and two other companies, EnCana Corporation and Seaview Energy, are seeking a peace bond against Ludwig and fellow Trickle Creek Ranch resident Richard Boonstra.

Both men were convicted in the 1990s for bombing and vandalizing oil and gas installations in Alberta.

Wiebo Ludwig talks with reporters at his Trickle Creek Farm near Hythe, Alta., during a police search of his property last month. (CBC)In January, police held Ludwig overnight and conducted a four-day search of his 325-hectare property in connection with six natural gas pipeline bombings in northeastern B.C. in 2008 and 2009, but no charges were laid.

Ludwig maintains he is innocent of the recent bombings but doesn't rule out the possibility that he might be arrested again.