ND Oil Spill, Largest Ever for State, Kept Quiet for 12 Days

[venture]

ND farmer finds oil spill while harvesting wheat » New and Developing » The Norman Transcript

Ooops.

What Jensen had found on Sept. 29 turned out it was one of the largest spills recorded in the state. At 20,600 barrels it was four times the size of a pipeline rupture in late March that forced the evacuation of more than 20 homes in Arkansas.

But it was 12 days after Jensen reported the spill before state officials told the public what had happened, raising questions about how North Dakota, which is in the midst of an oil boom, reports such incidents.

All that growth is great for the, but time for someone to start revisiting procedures on how to handle these inevitable accidents that will come with such rapid expansion of the industry there. The governor wasn't told until Wednesday of the event.

Tesora Logistics of San Antonio is the company responsible for the pipeline that broke.

[kelroy55]

I thought spills never happen.... isn't that what they say when trying to get the Keystone pipeline approved. Wonder what a spill like that would do to an aquifer.

[Plutonic Panda]

I thought spills never happen.... isn't that what they say when trying to get the Keystone pipeline approved. Wonder what a spill like that would do to an aquifer.

I am pro oil but against the Keystone pipeline as it stands. To add to your reservoir comment, the reservoir it goes over is non-replenishable, keep that in mind.

[kelroy55]

Leaking pipeline spews 20k barrels of oil, ruining wheat farm - Video on NBCNews.com

[Bunty]

It would probably still be leaking if there was no farmer with wheat ready to harvest.

[ou48A]

Pipelines are statistically safer and cheaper than than trains yet the Obama administration via gov agency’s is slow playing the approval process of new pipelines. You want a cleaner environment? let more new pipelines be built. But please know who owns the train company that benefits most... You guess it, a major Obama supporter. If Obama really cared about the environment he would fast track nearly every domestic pipeline project and make things safer and more cost effective for the economy.

[mugofbeer]

I thought spills never happen.... isn't that what they say when trying to get the Keystone pipeline approved. Wonder what a spill like that would do to an aquifer.

Doubt this or a spill from Keystone would do anything to an aquifer. Especially at this point this year, its been pretty cold and snowy in ND so the oil should be pretty thick and not go into the soil. Big spill or not, the company should pretty easily be able to clean this up. The environmental agencies just need to be sure its done completely.

Yes, it will cost Tesoro millions to clean but that's not that much for them.

If it were oil sands and the pipeline broke, it would still be an extremely thick tar/sand substance that wouldn't go far.

[ou48A]

Doubt this or a spill from Keystone would do anything to an aquifer. Especially at this point this year, its been pretty cold and snowy in ND so the oil should be pretty thick and not go into the soil. Big spill or not, the company should pretty easily be able to clean this up. The environmental agencies just need to be sure its done completely.

Yes, it will cost Tesoro millions to clean but that's not that much for them.

If it were oil sands and the pipeline broke, it would still be an extremely thick tar/sand substance that wouldn't go far.

Good points
This oil is light sweet crude. After a period of time microorganism break down this type of oil. After a period of time the wheat will be thickest and tallest in the area of the spill.
The lasting problems with ground contamination usually occur when there is high sulfur or salt water in the crude.

Back when crude was 3 dollars it wasn't uncommon for farmers to dump light sweet crude on their ground by the truck load to prevent erosion, so thing would grow and stabilize the soil.

[mugofbeer]

Oh, Tesoro will come in and haul out a few hundred truckloads of contaminated dirt and get it treated somewhere. They'll haul back in a like amount and the farm will be good as new as long as everyone keeps an eye on them.