Freedom! At 3 Million Gallons, Toxic ND Brine Leak From Fracking State's Biggest Leak Ever!

[hatrack]

Nearly 3 million gallons of saltwater generated by oil drilling have leaked from a North Dakota pipeline, an official said Wednesday, the largest such spill since the state's current oil boom began and nearly three times worse than previous record spills. Two creeks have been affected, but the full environmental effect might not be clear for months.

Operator Summit Midstream Partners LLC detected the pipeline spill on Jan. 6, about 15 miles north of Williston and told health officials then. Officials say they weren't given a full account of the size until Tuesday.

Cleanup has begun and inspectors have been monitoring the area, but it will be difficult to measure the effects on the environment and wildlife until the ice melts, said Dave Glatt, chief of the North Dakota Department of Health's environmental health section. Some previous saltwater spills have taken years to clean up.

"This is not something we want to happen in North Dakota," Glatt said. At the moment, the spill doesn't threaten public drinking water or human health, Glatt said. He said a handful of farmers have been asked to keep their livestock away from the two creeks, the smaller of which will be drained.

Ed. That's nice, Dave. Thanks for caring.

EDIT

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/21/north-dakota-pipeline-spill_n_6520146.html

[marym625]

1. Just hate that fracking is still legal

The bad outweighs the good by far. Just shows what our true democracy is all about. Money

[atreides1]

2. What was that question again?

"What sane civilization, intentionally poisons their own drinking water?"

[misterhighwasted]

3. Williston ND sits at the mouth of the Missouri River.

This is so damaging and I know of many landowners there that wish nothing more than the Bakken to just go the F away.
They are glad the oil prices have tanked & are hoping for a crash so oil companies all pull up & leave their corner of the world.

They are well aware that they will be the ones left with years of cleaning up the mess once the companies are gone or have simply gone belly-up.
Williston, ND is near the confluence of the Yellowstone River (yes, the same Yellowstone River that the recent Glendive, Montana toxic spill drains into) and the Missouri River, at the upper end of the Lake Sakakawea reservoir.
The beautiful Missouri River is the lifeblood of the State & the beauty of the Badlands that surround it.
The fishing of catfish, paddlefish, Northern Pike and the king of them all, the Walleye, are all threatened as well as the various water fowl & wildlife that thrive there.
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"The Environmental Protection Agency says that produced brine water may contain toxic metals and radioactive waste. These substances can be extremely damaging to the environment and public health if released onto the surface. The statement made by the Department of Health included no statement from Summit Midstream."
http://bakken.com/news/id/229584/brine-spills-creek-north-williston/

Brine is an unwanted byproduct of oil production and is considered an environmental hazard. It’s saltier than sea water.
A Summit Midstream representative didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Yup, have a nice day.

[KansDem]

5. Thanks for the headsup!

I wonder when this fracked-up mess will be flowing through KC...

[misterhighwasted]

4. Some great comments on that Huffpost Link.

(snip)"This is not something we want to happen in North Dakota," Glatt said.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha - oh, my - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha . . . um. Yes, you really did want something like that to happen. You virtually invited that to happen when you give a blank check to an irresponsible industry without providing oversight. C'mon, Glatt, you wanted this to happen as long as you have the money to live someplace away from the mess you allow.
Reply ·
· 17 · 11 hours ago

George Recker · Top Commenter · Works at Retired from Chrysler 45 years
oops, oops oops
Reply ·
· 2 hours ago
Kim Shepperson-Jones · Top Commenter · William Paterson University
And now the property will be sold to the oil company for more pipeline at a very cheap price or the farmers foreclosed because they can't grow food crops or water livestock. Where's Bundy when you need him to protect that graze land or watering hole? Hee, hee.
Reply ·
· 1 · about an hour ago

Richard Judson · Top Commenter
We don't need no stinkin' regulations! Regulations are bad for business! Kill OSHA!! Regulations kill jobs!

[benld74]

6. I got in a discussion with a ND backer of fracking

who was hawking the geological composition of ND is different than Penn, therefore ND has nothing to worry about.
Man I wish I could find that conversation and really let into him now,,,,,,

[Divernan]

7. ND's 1 million gal. spill in 2006 is still not cleaned up.

North Dakota has suffered scores of saltwater spills since the state's oil boom began in earnest in 2006.

A network of saltwater pipelines extends to hundreds of disposal wells in the western part of the state, where the briny water is pumped underground for permanent storage. Legislation to mandate flow meters and cutoff switches on saltwater pipelines was overwhelmingly rejected in the Legislature in 2013.

Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club, called the brine "a real toxic mix" and "an extreme threat to the environment and people's health."

"Technology exists to prevent these spills and nothing is being done," said Schafer. "Better pipelines, flow meters, cutoff switches, more inspectors — something has got to be done."

And no surprise to anyone, North Dakota GOP is strongly in control of the state's politics, holding nearly all statewide positions in addition to having a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature.

[misterhighwasted]

8. Red State & Stupid.

ND is a State where its voters hold dear the wide open beauty of plentiful hunting of deer, waterfowl, pheasant, grouse, & duck & geese. All which rely on the waters of the Missouri, providing coverage by its bays creeks & wetlands that run throughout the Dakota Badlands & the natural prairie grasslands. The citizens love their guns, their freedom to hunt.
Also plentiful is the fishing. From spring summer & fall & on into the cold water ice fishing, this is a sport that epitomizes the ND sportsman.

It is astonishing to me that have become so shortsided. The same GoP they stuffed their ND government body with, when told their right to those hunting weapons were threatened by voting for a Democrat, are the same ones who have allowed the Bakken to operate with haphazard regulations & basically opened the State to little oversight in the race to appease big old oil.
The threat they are staring in the face, is greater & farther reaching to destroy what was held dear long before the Bakken existed.

Their beloved GOP traded off the State for a sack of beans. The warnings of environmental groups in ND were merely brushed aside.

This is a disaster. And in the years to come I want them all to realize it is not the oil companies that were welcomed in, it is the GOP that were put n charge through their own votes, that allowed their beautiful abundant land to become a toxic salt brine, radioactive dump site.

The KXL plows its way through 7 more states. And TransCanada is NOT liable to clean up the toxic sludge when it fails & spreads out across the US land.
TransCanada & the Kochs can figure out another way to haul their billion dollar sludge from their landlocked location.
Nobody wants it except them & their Red State purchased fools.