The cause of the Oct. 29 spill outside of Edinburg remains under investigation, according to an incident summary by DEQ. The pipeline released about 9,120 barrels of crude oil onto about 4.81 acres of wetlands. Soil and water excavation is ongoing.
DEQ Director Dave Glatt said it's common practice for the state to meet with the pipeline company following a spill to try to reach an agreement on a penalty.
Not every oil spill results in a fine, but because the Oct. 29 spill impacted wetlands, it means an automatic fine, according to Glatt.
"Our primary goal, first and foremost, is protect public health," Glatt said. "Second is to minimize or eliminate environmental damage. And then, when appropriate, initiate enforcement action."
Glatt said DEQ will take into consideration factors such as how quickly the TC Energy monitoring system alerted the state of the release, how quickly the company responded to shut down the pipeline and how quickly it was cleaned up. Those all are questions that will be asked of the pipeline company at the Feb. 4 meeting, Glatt said.
But it's unclear how much the fine might ultimately be, and that process could still take several months, he added.
The Oct. 29 spill is one of five crude oil spills surpassing 1,000 barrels that have occurred in North Dakota, excluding those that occurred on oilfields, according to DEQ. Of those five, the Walsh County spill had the third-highest oil volume, at 9,120 barrels.
Of those four additional spills, one resulted in a fine, and one still has a fine pending.
DEQ Oil Spill Investigator Bill Seuss has emphasized that it's difficult to predict what a fine will be based on past spills.
"It's always hard to judge these things, because every spill is unique," Seuss told the Herald previously. "Everything has its own set of conditions. To compare it to anything, there are so many variations to it that it's hard to say that anything was similar."
With that in mind, the Herald reviewed the other four non-oilfield crude oil spills of 1,000 or more barrels in the state. Incident reports were found in the DEQ Spill Investigation database of Environmental Incident Reports, and information about enforcement action on each incident was provided by Glatt.
Lakehead Pipeline: no enforcement action taken. On July 13, 1989, the Lakehead Pipeline in Pembina County released approximately 25,000 barrels of crude oil – the largest crude oil spill in state history.
According to the DEQ incident summary, a break in the pipeline was the cause of the release. The report also noted that there was "much confusion" surrounding cleanup efforts.
The final and only update in the report was written by Seuss on Nov. 17, 2016, to note that a No Further Action letter had been filed on July 21, 2014, although Glatt added that doesn't necessarily mean that's when cleanup efforts concluded. He said information about the 30-year-old spill is limited due to its age.
"That was 30 years ago," he said. "Conditions have changed, and the types of activities have changed dramatically. Back when we had the Lakehead Pipeline, we didn't have a whole lot of activity like this, and so that was kind of an unusual one-off-type scenario. But in more recent history, we're showing more pipelines, more activity, and there's increased potential for accidents to happen, and with that, our enforcement action has gone up with that as well."
Belle Fourche Pipeline Co.: enforcement action ongoing. On Dec. 5, 2016, the Belle Fourche Pipeline in Billings County released approximate 4,200 barrels of crude oil, which ran downhill approximately 100 yards into Ash Coulee Creek. Glatt described the event as a "landslide," and cleanup and investigation of the spill is ongoing.
The spill was reported verbally to Seuss the same day the incident occurred, according to the DEQ report. Because the oil impacted a water source, it resulted in an automatic fine, but a settlement has yet to be reached, Glatt said. He told the Herald that enforcement actions are ongoing, and that due to the size and nature of the spill, current action is being initiated in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Aside from the spill into Ash Coulee Creek, Glatt said he could think of one other spill in the state that has triggered U.S. EPA involvement.
"We're taking a look at, you know, just overall, why did it happen?" Glatt said. "How did it happen? And what their response was. So we're still in that process."
Seuss updated the report on Sept. 4, 2019, to note that a total of 3,452.07 barrels of crude oil had been recovered through Jan. 1, 2019. From Jan. 1, 2019, through July 31, 2019, an additional 198.53 barrels of oil were collected, for a total of 3650.60 barrels of oil collected through the end of July.
BNSF Railway: site closed, $65,000 fine imposed. On May 6, 2015, a train carrying six tank cars of Bakken crude oil derailed due to a failure of a wheel on one of the tank cars. The derailment caused a crude oil spill of approximately 1,428 barrels in Wells County. The spill was noted to have occurred about 1,000 feet from an occupied building and impacted wetlands, resulting in an automatic fine. According to the DEQ report, the oil release lasted about 12 hours, and there was no immediate risk to human health.
DEQ issued BNSF Railway Company a notice of violation on Aug. 31, 2016, asking BNSF to detail "the circumstances that led to the alleged violations," "the corrective actions that you have taken," "what you will do to ensure future compliance," and "a timeline of your response to the release and note when the spill was contained, delineated, and cleaned up to applicable standards." A proposed Administrative Consent Agreement that included a $65,000 fine was sent from the North Dakota Assistant Attorney General to BNSF Railway Company on Feb. 3, 2017.
According to documents provided by DEQ, BNSF Railway Company signed the consent agreement on May 12, 2017, and paid the $65,000 fine on June 8, 2017. A No Further Action Letter was filed Nov. 29, according to the DEQ report.
Eighty Eight Oil: no enforcement action taken. On Nov. 22, 2008, Eighty Eight Oil LLC tanks containing crude oil overfilled and ran over a dike, resulting in a crude oil spill of approximately 1,000 barrels in Mountrail County. According to the DEQ report, the spill occurred about a half mile from an occupied building and lasted for approximately six hours.
No water was impacted and the oil did not leave the property, according to the DEQ report. The report noted that the frozen ground limited oil migration deeper into the soil. The report also noted that at the time that it was written, one vacuum truck was already onsite and product recovery was underway.
Glatt told the Herald that because the spill was contained and cleaned up quickly, no enforcement action was taken.
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