Mitt's Energy Advisor Harold Hamm All Over North Dakota, Busily Spilling, Drilling & Fracking

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In Bismarck, North Dakota's capital, the oil industry's need for speed has created fundraising opportunities for politicians. The administration of Gov. Jack Dalrymple—who has received $20,000 from Hamm—has been granting drilling rights at a brisk pace: The number of permits has tripled in three years despite pleas from locals to slow things down. Nor did Dalrymple tap the brakes last year, when oil-patch towns complained that severe housing shortages prevented them from hiring new police officers. Instead, he pledged to install trailer homes in nearby state parks and fill them with state troopers. "We are doing our very best to keep up," the governor told a crowd of oil executives last year. "I can promise that we will be faithful and long-term partners in your efforts to develop the Bakken Shale. And most of all, I can promise that you will have direct access to our state government at the highest level."

Much of Dalrymple's support involves looking the other way. Despite more than 3,300 oil field spills* in North Dakota since 2009, his Industrial Commission, which oversees drilling-related activities, has issued only 45 enforcement actions. Nor has the governor done much to discourage Continental and his other petroleum donors from squandering the natural gas that bubbles up with their oil—enough to power nearly 550,000 homes. Drillers recover most of that gas in oil states like Alaska, California, and Texas, but to do so here would require building pipelines and plants, forcing Continental to slow down. "The field covers 15,000 square miles, so it takes time to go and test what's there and then build a gathering system and plant," Hamm told the New York Times. As a result, more gas is burned off in the Bakken than in any other domestic oil field, releasing as much carbon dioxide as nearly 400,000 cars or a new coal power plant.

In its rush, Continental has ridden roughshod over environmental laws. Documents acquired by ProPublica show that it has spilled at least 200,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota since 2009, far more than any other company. That year, in one of its few formal citations against oil companies, the state's health department fined Continental $428,500 for poisoning two creeks with thousands of gallons of brine and crude, but later reduced the amount to $35,000. Around the same time, during a thaw, four Continental waste pits overflowed, spilling a toxic soup onto the surrounding land. The Industrial Commission said it would fine the company $125,000, but it ultimately reduced the sum to less than $14,000, since "the wet conditions created circumstances that were unforeseen by Continental."

The company's rapid expansion also has coincided with a spike in accidents. In July 2011, a Continental rig exploded near the town of Beach, badly injuring three men—two had burns covering more than half their bodies. Hamm told a reporter that it was the first rig explosion in company history—although one rig worker had been crushed to death back in 2007­—but two months later a second rig blew up, forcing the evacuation of 25 homes. Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Continental for a dozen workplace safety violations.

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http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/10/harold-hamm-continental-resources-bakken-mitt-romney