The issue of pipeline safety has percolated to the surface in recent days, grabbing the attention of the public and concerned lawmakers at the current session of the North Dakota Legislature.

Two recent major spills that dumped oil and saltwater into key waterways have proven to be the impetus behind further scrutiny and regulation of pipelines, large and small, in North Dakota.

Headline grabbing spills included a dump of an estimated 50,000 barrels of oil from the Poplar Pipeline that crosses the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Mont., and North Dakota’s largest saltwater spill, an estimated 3 million gallons, into Blacktail Creek north of Williston. The Yellowstone River flows into Lake Sakakawea. Blacktail Creek is a little known tributary of the Little Muddy River which joins Lake Sakakawea south of Williston.

Glendive was forced to shut down its water treatment plant after residents reported a smell similar to diesel fuel in their tap water. Residents were forced to switch to bottled water. The saltwater pipeline spill near Williston did not effect that city’s water supply because the city’s intake is upstream from where the Little Muddy joins the Missouri drainage. Nevertheless, the two close calls have raised the concern that future spills might be carry with them much worse consequences.

Most spills or pipeline ruptures are quite small and easily contained, but many occur close to environmentally sensitive areas where even small amounts of oil or saltwater carry potentially detrimental effects.

An oil and brine spill January 14 approximately five miles southeast of Tolley in Renville County was reported to the N.D. Department of Health as consisting of 25 barrels of oil and 820 barrels of brine. Brine, or saltwater is said to be up to 30 times saltier than sea water. The report stated only 70 barrels of brine left the location. While the spill might appear to be minimal, nearly 3,000 gallons of saltwater was headed for Lake Darling on the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge.

“It was less than a half mile from the Lake Darling refuge,” said Tom Pabian, Upper Souris NWR manager. “The flow was stopped at the tip of a drainage leading into Lake Darling.”

Lake Darling is a popular fishery, a migratory waterfowl sanctuary and supply reservoir on the Souris River for the J. Clark Salyer NWR near Upham. The Souris River flows through Minot.

When spills occur it is the responsibility of the reporting company to ascertain the contents and size of the spill. Initial reports are almost always revised upward. Marvin Nelson, D-Rolla, District 9 member of the N.D. House, is among those who question the reliability of spill amounts reported by the companies responsible.

“I think the answer is because Oil and Gas and the Health Department let them and do not want to spend the resources to come up with independent numbers or bother to fight with the companies,” said Nelson.

There is also the issue of the extent of clean-up following a spill. Companies often report nearly 100 percent recovery of spilled oil or brine. Nelson says a number of factors must be considered during the recovery process and that, quite often, the percentage of recovered oil or brine is not accurate.

“I don’t care where you spill, you don’t get it all with a vacuum truck unless you are on a flawless concrete pad with a slope and a sump,” said Nelson. “Even the clays are not going to prevent seepage. The amount spilled and the amount recovered seems to me to have an awful lot of the honor system involved.”

Nelson has long been a proponent of pipeline monitoring systems and such systems are widely used in the state today. Monitoring systems can detect the location and size of leaks in pipelines.

“The Industrial Commission is requiring valves whenever the gathering pipeline is within a quarter mile of a wetland or aquifer,” said Nelson.

Still, says Nelson, meters require frequent checking. He questions whether any meter was regularly checked at the location of the 3-million gallon spill into Blacktail Creek. If regular checking was done, said Nelson, the size of the spill would have shrunk significantly.

“The meters work better if some human actually pays attention to them,” remarked Nelson. “While talking spills it is often said that the meters lack accuracy, but you never hear the same people say the royalties and taxes paid is a wild guess because of the same meters.”

In an effort to thwart future pipeline breaks a group of Democratic state lawmakers has drafted legislation that would require pipelines installed after June 30, 2017, to have flow meters, shut-off valves, cutoff switches or other safeguards to prevent spills. The legislation would also require that all pipelines be bonded. Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, has signed on as the prime sponsor of the bill.

Alison Ritter, Department of Mineral Resources, says her agency is providing neutral testimony on the bill.

“This bill is a step in the right direction with requirement implemented in the last session,” said Ritter. “There is some concern about the type of technology listed in the bill. It might be somewhat outdated, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Ritter said she thinks short distance pipelines probably do not need permitting but that gathering lines, those that reach further distances, “maybe should be looked at a little more carefully.”

The Legislature is also considering SB 2342, a bill that addresses concerns about the Industrial Commission often suspending 90 percent of the fines assessed to violators, an issue that recently attracted national attention. Sen. Tyler Axness, D-Fargo, says the process has not been open enough to the general public.

“We are not saying (fines) should never be settled,” said Axness. “What we are saying is that they (Industrial Commission) should vote publicly about these important matters.”

The pipeline that spilled brine into Blacktail Creek was only 4 inches in diameter. It was a gathering line for saltwater from oil wells in the area. Saltwater is a byproduct from drilling and is eventually pumped back into the ground. The Deptartment of Health is still waiting for an estimate of how long the ruptured pipeline was spilling brine before it was discovered.

The age of pipelines and their location can also be an issue. The pipeline that ruptured in the Yellowstone River was installed in 1967. It was a 12-inch steel line buried 8 feet beneath the river bed but had become exposed due to river flows and therefore more vulnerable to failure.

In North Dakota there are several pipelines that traverse Lake Sakakawea. Hess Corporation has asked the Public Service Commission for approval of a project involving three existing Lake Sakakawea pipelines. Hess intends to use the pipelines to transport natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids from one side of Lake Sakakawea to the other, a distance of approximately 2.4 miles. The 8-inch existing pipe will tie into new and larger pipelines on opposite shores, essentially leading from Keene to Tioga.

Lake interests have long been aware of the potential for a pipeline or oil field spill affecting Lake Sakakawea. Hess says the chance of a pipeline spill underneath Lake Sakakawea is “unlikely” and that even a “worst case scenario” would not cause “acute toxicity in the most sensitive fish species.”

Sometimes what agency is responsible for a pipeline is not clear to the general public. Distribution pipelines, those that cross state lines, are federally regulated. Intrastate pipelines sometimes fall under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission. Smaller pipelines, such as the saltwater gathering line that ruptured near Blacktail Creek, fall within the jurisdiction of the state’s Oil and Gas Division.

Pipelines that cross Lake Sakakawea are located on federal land where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must approve installation and operation. The Corps, which has maintained a watchful eye on recent oil and brine spills, is in the process of revising its pipeline requirements.

“Age of these pipelines makes a difference. It’s an issue we’ve been pushing. Most of our pipelines are 25-year easements,” said Todd Lindquist, Corps of Engineers project leader in Riverdale. “We want to require testing before re-issuing pipeline permits and we want them to verify cover.”

According to Lindquist, some pipelines crossing Lake Sakakawea were likely installed many years ago by a method called “sledding.” That process involved shallow trenching or the blowing away of material to lay pipeline just beneath the lake bed.

“It would be buried, but not very deep,” said Lindquist. “If that’s in an area where there’s current the cover can erode away.”

At least one Lake Sakakawea pipeline carrying carbon dioxide is known to have been laid directly on the lake bed. With pipeline ruptures a growing concern, it appears likely that the Corps will require stricter standards for any future installation of pipelines crossing Lake Sakakawea.

Oil and Gas has up to 30 field inspectors on the ground in the Bakken every day, but they are not installation inspectors. They are tasked, says Ritter, with “every day looking for surface disturbances that may indicate a problem.”

The Oil and Gas Division is seeking to add three inspectors who would deal specifically with construction and installation of pipelines. Thus far those positions remain unfilled.

“We want people to apply. The newcomers would be primarily concerned with the installation process,” said Ritter. “We just haven’t been able to fill those positions. The pipeline industry is a very, very competitive industry.”