Oil companies in North Dakota fail to report almost 300 oil spills since 2012

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/25/oil-companies-in-north-dakota-fails-to-report-almost-300-oil-spills-since-2012/



Oil companies in North Dakota fail to report almost 300 oil spills since 2012
By Scott Kaufman
Friday, October 25, 2013 16:12 EDT

According to the Associated Press, the nation’s second largest oil-producing state, North Dakota, failed to inform the public of almost 300 oil pipeline spills in the last two years.

Even though many of the spills were small, “(t)he public really should know about these,” Don Morrison, the director of the Dakota Resource Council, told the AP. “If there is a spill, sometimes a landowner may not even know about it. And if they do, people think it’s an isolated incident that’s only happening to them.”

Reporting such spills is significant, because even a barrel of oil could ruin water supplies, which would ruin countless acres of arable soil.

The director of the Department of Mineral Resources, Lynn Helms, told the Associated Press that companies are worried about “over-reporting” spills. The state is trying to strike a balance so that “the public is aware of what’s happening, but not overwhelmed by little incidents.”