Meg Morley, Grand Forks

Rep. Roscoe Streyle of Minot has introduced HB1151 which would stop the North Dakota Industrial Commission from requiring the report of any spill that’s less than 10 barrels and contained at the site of the incident.

This would bring North Dakota’s mandatory reporting requirements up to the same level as the Feds.

I know what the opponents of this proposed law are thinking. “Every oil spill is a bad spill.” Really, though, is it? I grew up on a North Dakota farm. I saw oil spills, chemical leaks, fertilizer spills, all contained within the confines of our homestead. My father was meticulously careful with any work he did in the farm, and especially careful with any potentially hazardous materials he used in his work.

However, in spite of all of the attention he gave to safety, spills still happened. Spills WILL happen, they’re inevitable when you’re working with oil. My question, should Dad have been legally required to report every single oil spill on the farm, no matter if it was three drops or three gallons? Wasn’t what was really important was that every spill on our farm, no matter how large or small, was cleaned up properly, completely, and immediately?

The specifics of the proposed law are where we start to separate the drops from the tanker trucks. The reporting change applies only to spills in an engineered containment but still, any spill must still be cleaned up. These sites are inspected monthly already by the state and any amount leaving the containment still must be immediately reported. The men and women who work at these sites are trained to handle and react to any number of emergencies, including spills.

I have been out on the sites and was so impressed by the level of professionalism and commitment to safety and regulations shown every day by the oil and pipeline workers. Let’s not waste their valuable time and resources by having them have to report each and every oil spill and I would encourage the 2017 North Dakota to pass HB 1151.