Oil Pipeline Spills An Estimated 176,000 Gallons in North Daktoa
- December 14, 2016
- 0 comments
- Bob Krell
- Posted in Environmental
The pipelines of North Dakota have been in the news a lot recently, and now a pipeline has spilled more than 130,000 gallons of oil into a creek according to state officials. In western North Dakota, around 150 miles from the protests of the Dakota Access pipeline, the Belle Fourche pipeline has lost 4,200 barrels of crude oil; that is more than 176,000 gallons leaked before operators shut it down, according to Department of Health spokeswoman Jennifer Skjod. Most of that flowed into the Ash Coulee Creek near Belfield said the state officials.
Wendy Owen a spokeswoman for True Complainers, the Wyoming-based business that owns the pipeline, is sited as saying that the cause of this is unclear. The leak was discovered on December 5th by a landowner, not the monitoring technology designed to detect leaks. Is has been suggested that it may have failed due to “the intermittent nature of the flow” of oil in that pipeline.
The efforts to assess the spill’s extent and what impact that will have on the environment has been hampered by a blizzard. The creek is currently frozen and officials are looking to determine when the pipeline, which would normally carry 1,000 barrels of oil per day, started the leak.
Skjod was quoted saying the following of the pipeline, “We have no estimate on when or if it will be operational.”
Since 2006, the Associated Press has reported the company has declared 36 other spills, all totaling more than 320,000 gallons of petroleum products.
This hits home to many in a nation who have watched the struggles at Standing Rock, to the east of this spill, where so many have fought the Dakota Access pipeline and where it would cross under Lake Oahe. So many are fearful a spill there could contaminate the water supply and damage the Sioux’s sacred lands. President Obama has put that project on hold for the time being but many, including it’s developer, are confident that the Dakota Access pipeline will be completed once President-elect Trump takes office.