Crude oil rush raises concerns about spills in US

The rush of crude oil that is expected in the US has raised concerns about the safety implications of this.

With recent events such as the oil spill in North Dakota, the dangers associated with this have been brought to the fore. There is pressure on the US government at the moment to implement measures to ensure businesses can detect oil leaks.

Oil production in the US has been booming recently, with a number of expansions seen in North Dakota and Texas. Additionally, hydraulic fracturing for natural gas has been on the rise. Both of these means of acquiring natural resources have shown to boost the economy and provide a number of jobs.

Among the new plans that are due to see oil production increasing in the US include the construction of the new Keystone XL Pipeline from TransCanada Corporation and the implementation of hundreds of trains in the north-west to transport crude oil.

However, plans to use trains to transport oil have been criticised because of the environmental risk they care should tanker cars leak or be derailed. Critics pointed to a train disaster in Quebec in July, where a train derailed in the town of Lac Megantic. As a result, some of the oil carriages exploded and resulted in the deaths of 47 people.

Where pipeline safety is concerned, experts say that inspections of these will need to increase if production is set to boom. Former head of the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Brigham McCown told Bloomberg that more attention from regulators and industry officials is needed rather than changing rules on pipeline safety.

In North Dakota, an oil spill was uncovered last month when a farmer was harvesting his crops. It was revealed that a pipeline had ruptured, resulting in 20,600 barrels of crude oil being spilled. State officials say that clean up efforts could take a number of months. However, it took 12 days before news of the spill emerged.