North Dakota to improve safety and oil spill alerts

Pipeline safety is due to be improved in North Dakota, it has been announced. Works will be ongoing to ensure that pipelines are functioning correctly in a bid to reduce oil leaks in the state. Any leaks that do take place will be publicised to ensure that the general public are aware of the situation. The decision to take these steps comes in the wake of several oil leaks, including a 350 barrel spill that was revealed by the state on Tuesday November 19th.

In the last two years, oil production has increased in North Dakota by around double, resulting in almost a million barrels of oil everyday being produced. However, the state has failed to notify the public in real time of any incidents where oil has spilled, resulting in a huge backlash against it. The lack of information provided by North Dakota to the public came to light when a recent spill saw 20,000 barrels of crude oil leak from a pipeline into a wheat field. While the incident occurred in September, it was not made public knowledge until October 10th.

As a result of the late information, the state has now announced that public alerts will be issued when oil spills above a yet-to-be-determined volume occur, according to David Glatt, chief of the environmental health section at the North Dakota Department of Health. Information about oil spills in the state will be published on a website so that the public will be made aware of situations as they happen.

Previously, public alerts were only issued by the health department or the Department of Mineral Resources if the oil leak was considered to be a risk to public health. Alerts were also issued in the instance that there were fears of water contamination. However, the departments will now inform the public if any oil leaks that are above a soon-to-be-decided level occur.

The first public alert of this kind was issued on November 19th following a 350-barrel leak that happened at a McKenzie County drilling site. Some 300 barrels of oil were recovered, according to the state provided information, while the rest of the spill was contained.