by INFORUM
Industry group urges oil oversight
December 2, 2010 at 6:00 pm in INFORUM
Says oil production in ND needs review
Two oil-related spills in recent months and a continuing risk of spills and other accidents that could endanger soils and groundwater require a strengthening of state regulatory agencies and rules covering the oil boom in western North Dakota, according to a report released Thursday by the Dakota Resource Council.
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This is absolutely needed! We need MUCH stronger oversight on the oil industry in North Dakota.
Multi-billion dollar corporations are moving in to the state en masse, and unless we have very strong regulatory controls on environmental protections and mitigations, North Dakota could very well be holding the bag on a massive ecological disaster if they don’t act very quickly to get ahead of the game.
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The DRC is just a bunch of slacker trouble makers.
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North Dakota has the best regulatory models and agencies in the country? Wow. More like North Dakota has absolutely no environmental regulations. I don’t know who Ron Ness is comparing our environmental regulations with, but at least three states in the upper midwest have infinitely better environmental monitoring and regulations. The DRC may not have any merit (I’m not very familiar with their organization), but North Dakota is incredibly backward in their due diligence regarding anything environmental, and from my experience, falls far below EPA standards (for whatever that’s worth, since that’s a little overdone in many facets) in regards to enforcement and regulations.
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Ignorance is bliss as the comments show. North Dakota has had some of the best, if not the best, regulations in place regarding oil and gas drilling and production in the world. Dr. Wilson Laird was instrumental in insisting upon this back in the early days of the industry. North Dakota has often been looked upon as a leader in proactive regulation, requiring bonding of all companies operating in the state. This has resulted in many, many locations where drilling and production has occurred in the past to not be noticeable. This group has an agenda in mind, and it will not let the facts get in the way. The good people of North Dakota have to start standing up against these groups and their radical, unfounded agendas. As we all know, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and it is time for all of us to start squeaking louder than this lot that chooses to be ignorant of the truth.
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Coldwar, your comments may be accurate in regards to the regulation of companies operating in the state; I have little knowledge of this, especially in regards to the oil and other natural resource industries. My statement (above), which I don’t believe you were commenting on, is in regards to the environmental regulation of oil and other chemical production and storage, a subject which I am fairly familiar with, has little regulation and less enforcement within the state. I’ve been associated with and know of other projects in which known releases have been identified and no cleanup, monitoring or other enforcement was mandated due to a lack of regulation. Furthermore, there are no public databases available which identify potential environmental concerns throughout the state. Generally this is not an issue to anyone outside pertinent industries, but last summer there were two incidents in Fargo in which construction workers were sent to the hospital due to exposure to contaminants related to two separate former filling stations. One of these projects was located at a new NDSU building downtown; perhaps the next incident would involve vapor intrusion at a daycare, school or hospital. I’m not saying that North Dakota needs to take immediate action or that environmental regulation is desparately needed, but stating that North Dakota has anything resembling a good regulatory model (in terms of environmental regulations) is erroneous. One additional note – upon reviewing the cause of the DRC, I question their agenda as well, especially in their understanding of the real consequences of the releases in an industrial setting (which are neglegible).
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