Fracking in North Dakota: An Update

      There were three news reports during the week of October 14 emanating from the Bakken Oil fields of North Dakota.

 

     1. It was reported that the Environmental Health Section of the State Department of Health was investigating the leak of crude oil in a wheatfield in the northwestern part of the state. The pipeline company, Tesoro Corporation, first estimated the spill at 750 barrels, then increased it to 20,6000 barrels, making it one of the largest spills in North Dakota history. Tesoro, which did not share its test results with the state, said in a statement that it had inspected the pipeline two weeks before the spill and was awaiting results when the leak was reported.

     2. Landowners in North Dakota recently filed 10 class action lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in lost royalties from some of the nations’ largest oil companies. The oil companies that once rushed into the state to drill for oil do not yet have a viable method of transporting it out of the state and therefore there is no profit incentive to move the product. As a result, roughly 1,500 flare fires burn constantly above western North Dakota in which nearly 30 percent of the state’s output valued at $100 million a month is burned at the well site, producing emissions equivalent to more than two medium-size coal-fired power plants. The land owners are suing for the loss of royalties promised them by the oil companies.

     3. It was reported that North Dakota landowners had become increasingly concerned that waste from oil drilling operations was placing their croplands at risk. Oil companies in the state disposed of more than a million tons of drilling waste last year, 15 times the amount in 2006. Seven drilling landfills operate in North Dakota at this time, with 16 more under construction or seeking state approval. Most drilling waste, usually chunks of earth slathered in chemicals and petroleum, is disposed of at the drilling site. However, about a year and a half ago, the state passed a regulation requiring drillers to dry the waste before buying it on-site to address landowners’ concerns about runoff and leakage. But the companies don’t want to do that, so they have turned to landfills to dispose of the waste.

     It is well known that much of the oil in the Bakken field in North Dakota is produced by the process of horizontal hydraulic drilling, known as "fracking." Those groups that oppose fracking, such as "Ban Michigan Fracking" (of which I am a member), do not usually delight in saying "We told you so."

     These reports, however, justify an exception.