Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Missouri River Oil Spill: 900 Gallons Spill In North Dakota

WILLISTON, N.D. -- Damage around a North Dakota oil well site where officials believe floodwaters shifted a storage tank, causing at least 900 gallons of oil to spill into the Missouri River, does not appear to be significant, state health department officials said Friday.

The tank is at a well site owned by Ryan Exploration Inc., which has committed to cleaning up the mess. The site is among about 40 on the flood plain southwest of Williston shut down under state orders when the river started to rise in May. Some companies emptied storage tanks of oil and refilled them with water to hold them down in the high water.

"If everybody could have predicted how much water we were going to get, these wells could have been closed down sooner and theoretically all the oil pumped out of these tanks before they were flooded," State Water Quality Director Dennis Fewless said Friday.

State health officials said another company discovered the spill Wednesday and immediately started efforts to contain the oil and clean it up. Ryan Exploration crews also have been working at the site, said Kris Roberts, state environmental geologist.

"They've been extremely cooperative," Roberts said.

Ryan Exploration reported a minor spill in 2006, but there have been no major complaints against the Denver-based company, said Bruce Hicks, assistant director of the state's Oil and Gas Division.

"I haven't seen them on the radar before," Fewless said.

The tank held 68 barrels of oil and at least 20 barrels are believed to have leaked. A barrel holds 42 gallons. Roberts said the tank stopped leaking when the level of oil inside reached the level of water outside. A second tank with 210 barrels of oil did not shift and was not leaking.

"There was potential to have more leaks out of those tanks," Fewless said. "It's the best we could hope for a bad situation."

Said Roberts, "We dodged a bullet."

The North Dakota spill is much smaller than an estimated 42,000-gallon spill from a ruptured pipeline two weeks ago into the Yellowstone River in Montana.

Full Article
Source: Huffington  

No comments:

Post a Comment