BAKKEN NEWS Group wants stronger oil rules


By DALE WETZEL Associated Press


group said it plans to press lawmakers to strengthen the state’s proposed new oil production rules, which it believes should ban the dumping of oil drilling waste into open pits. The regulations,


proved by the state Industrial Commis- sion last week, must still pass before the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Com- mittee, which has the power to block, change or delay the implementation of new regulations. North Dakota’s Department of Min-


eral Resources wants the rules to take effect in April. The Legislature’s rules board will meet in early March, accord- ing to its chairman, state Rep. Kim Kop- pelman, R-West Fargo. Donald Nelson, a Keene rancher and


spokesman for the Dakota Resource Council, a Dickinson-based environ- mental group, said the new rules would continue allowing oil companies to dump liquid drilling waste in open pits if the well is less than 5,000 feet deep. Nelson and Dorothy Ventsch, a coun- cil member from New Town, said open


which were A North Dakota environmental


pits shouldn’t be used for waste dispos- al.


ap-


ing, Ventsch said, more than 40 pits over- fl owed with water from rain and melting snow, polluting nearby farmland and ranchland. Nelson said the group would attempt to enlist sympathetic lawmakers to push to strengthen the regulations. He declined to name any prospects. “There are several that we’ve worked


with in the past, and I think they’ll get on board,” he said. Supporters of the rules say they will


require most wells to recycle liquid drill- ing waste instead of disposing of it in open pits. Furthermore, operators can’t use waste pits to dispose of liquids from wells deeper than 5,000 feet without spe- cial permission from state regulators. State rules say the “reserve pits,” as


they are called, must be fi lled in and re- claimed after oil drilling is fi nished at the site.


require fl ow monitors on saltwater dis- posal lines, which he said would provide for faster detection of leaks and help avoid catastrophic spills. “It’s not going to prevent spills. They’re still going to happen. But it will


Nelson believes the rules also should During last spring’s statewide fl ood-


prevent such huge ones,” Nelson said. “If it’s just going to be a broken line that just keeps dumping out until they fi gure it out, a week or month down the road, I just don’t think that’s acceptable.” In January 2006, a saltwater disposal


pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 1 million gallons of brine into Charbon- neau Creek, near Alexander in north- western North Dakota. The creek is a tributary of the Yellowstone River. The line, owned by Zenergy Inc., of


Tulsa, Okla., was not equipped with me- ters to monitor its fl ow and the spill was discovered by chance. Saltwater is a by- product of oil production and is usually disposed of by injecting the water back underground. Dave Glatt, chief of the state Depart-


Thursday, February 2, 2012 ■ Page 11


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ment of Health’s environmental health section, said Jan. 30 that the spill was still being cleaned up. A contractor hired by the company has been pumping out contaminated groundwater to prevent it from reaching the creek and other surface water sourc- es, Glatt said. Zenergy offi cials did not immediately respond to phone or email requests Jan. 30 seeking comment.


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