BISMARCK TRIBUNE EDITORIAL


Thursday, February 16, 2012 ■ Page 11 Oil pipeline under lake can work Enbridge Inc. should be allowed to construct a


crude-oil pipeline beneath Lake Sakakawea, but only if the company agrees to use the best construction methods and materials available. It makes no difference if the Yellowstone River is


apples to Lake Sakakawea’s oranges. At one time, the pipeline beneath the Yellowstone was state-of-the-art engineering. North Dakota has success with pipelines running under Lake Sakakawea, and there are additional envi- ronmental and economic benefi ts to such a pipeline. What Enbridge wants to do is build a 36-mile,


12-inch-in-diameter pipeline from its Beaver Lodge pumping station southeast of Tioga to a point east of Watford City. To make that happen, 2.1 miles of pipe would have to be buried 50 to 150 feet below the lake bed. It would not be trenched; it would be drilled — much like horizontal drilling for crude oil in the Bakken shale formation. Readers will recall that the force of the Yellow-


stone River uncovered the Exxon Mobile pipeline in Montana, rupturing the pipe and spilling some 60,000 gallons of oil into the river. The water move- ment in Lake Sakakawea is nothing like the Yellow- stone River.


Reduce the pipeline risk through tougher engineering standards


The Enbridge pipeline would move oil from the


Bakken to an east-west pipeline it’s building paral- lel to an existing Enbridge pipeline that connects to Clearwater, Minn. Presently, there are fi ve pipelines crossing Lake


Sakakawea: an Enbridge pipeline and one from Tes- oro carrying crude oil, WBI and Northern Border natural gas lines and a Dakota Gasifi cation carbon dioxide line. It’s likely the new Enbridge cross is getting more


attention because of the mess in Montana, and peo- ple should be aware and concerned about any pipe- lines crossing lakes or river. No one wants a spill. Regulators should require all the best practices when reviewing Enbridge’s request. On the plus side, oil companies have gotten to-


gether to develop assets and resources for dealing with a spill in Lake Sakakawea. A plan is ready for Industrial Commission review, to create the Saka- kawea Area Spill Response LLC for the purposes of dealing with spills from pipelines or well-drilling on or around the lake. The new entity will bring together resources from oil and gas companies operating in the area. It’s sup- posed to involve special boats, booms and other equipment for containing and cleaning up spills. There’s no absolute guarantee there will never be


a rupture or spill from a new oil pipeline. There’s always risk. But that risk can be marginalized by proper engineering, construction and monitoring of a project.


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