Dive Brief:
- Officials in Watford City, N.D., are appealing to the state to act on oil waste that was discovered to be leaking hazardous substances into the ground.
- The director of the McKenzie County Solid Waste Department, Rick Schreiber, reported the contamination to state officials last week after a member of the community sent him photographs depicting the leaking oil waste.
- Oil field waste cannot be accepted at municipal landfills due to naturally occurring levels of radiation.
Dive Insight:
The North Dakota Department of Health is conducting an investigation, and fines could be issued. The waste is thought to have not been handled properly, yet is not seen as posing an immediate risk to those living in the area. Still, levels of radioactivity were found to be twice as high as the natural background reading, as reported by the director of the Division of Solid Waste.
Stemming from improved environmental laws regarding the proper disposal of oil waste, landfills built to handle the waste from this sector may be growing. Recently, a Minnesota company announced plans to construct Wyoming's first oil field waste landfill. It would accept soil cuttings that have petroleum.
