Energy Incidents
Related: 2013 Mayflower Arkansas Oil / Tar Sands Spill
Farmer Steve Jensen was harvesting wheat on his land in North Dakota when he discovered a leak covering the area of 7 football fields six inches deep on Sept. 29, 2013, but was not reported to the public until 2 weeks later. The massive spill of over 20,000 barrels of oil has been called the largest pipeline leak on U.S. soil, and may take 2 or 3 years to clean up until the land can produce wheat again. The Tesoro spill was four times larger than a pipeline rupture in late March that happened north of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The farmer said that the leak was from a 'perfectly round, quarter-inch hole' producing 'about 100 pounds pressure'. The hole has no known cause, though state authorities speculate corrosion may be to blame. The 20 year old pipeline had been inspected in 2005 and on by an automated "pig" on Sept. 10-11 of this year, though it wasn't after the leak that it was announced that the data indicated some anomalies in performance. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration also inspected the pipeline in late 2010. The hole in the 20-year-old pipeline was a quarter-inch in diameter in the 6-inch-diameter steel pipeline which runs underground 35 miles from the Bakken rock formation at Tioga to a rail facility outside of Columbus. Tesoro acquired the pipeline when it bought an oil refinery in Mandan in 2001. The pipeline is buried six feet below the surface above a clay layer about 12 feet below which would block any leakage of oil below that. The area of the crude-oil release was estimated at 7.3 acres. It spill was expected to cost Tesoro 2 million dollars. Greenpeace used the rare incident to condemn use of fossil fuels, telling Fox News "As long as we let oil companies keep us locked into these forms of extreme fossil fuels, we'll continue to see spills like these"
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462697/Farmer-discovered-oil-inches-deep-land-fails-strike-rich--crude-came-burst-pipeline-largest-spill-U-S-history.html#ixzz2iHcjqCKY
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
.Sources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462697/Farmer-discovered-oil-inches-deep-land-fails-strike-rich--crude-came-burst-pipeline-largest-spill-U-S-history.html
America's worst oil-spill on land: Burst pipe-line leaves farmer's fields six inches deep in crude
Steve Jensen found oil on his South Dakota farm while harvesting wheat
Crude came bubbling from pipeline with a 'quarter-inch hole' in it
Farmer cannot grow crops on his land for two or three years after spill
By HUGO GYE
PUBLISHED: 05:00 EST, 16 October 2013 | UPDATED: 07:33 EST, 16 October 2013
Comment: Colin, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom, 3 days ago
"A perfectly round 1/4 inch hole" ? Holes caused by corrosion or ruptures are never regular, never mind "perfectly round". I think I would be asking to look at his tool boxes and tractor tool such as harrow or seed-drill. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462697/Farmer-discovered-oil-inches-deep-land-fails-strike-rich--crude-came-burst-pipeline-largest-spill-U-S-history.html#ixzz2iHd6pp8Z
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on FacebookRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462697/Farmer-discovered-oil-inches-deep-land-fails-strike-rich--crude-came-burst-pipeline-largest-spill-U-S-history.html#ixzz2iHdI12EK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/10/10/tesoro-reports-larger-leak-from-oil-pipeline/
No surface water or groundwater is threatened,” Fewless said. The leak “is on top of a hill in a wheat field. So it’s as good a situation as we can hope for when you have a leak.”
Pipeline blaze: Gas pipeline explodes near Texas Panhandle
The leak came from a Tesoro Logistics pipeline that’s buried about six feet below the surface. There is a clay layer about 12 feet below the surface, so “any release would go to that clay and then stop. It’s a natural barrier,” Fewless said.
The clean-up “will take awhile,” he said, because the area of the crude-oil release is estimated at 7.3 acres, he said.
- Huffington Post - 15 hours agoOct 17 (Reuters) - Tesoro Logistics LP on Thursday said it detected anomalies during an inspection of its 20-year-old North Dakota pipeline ...
- Reuters - 1 day ago
- Reuters - 1 day ago
ND Wants Answers on Ruptured Pipeline Inspections - ABC News
abcnews.go.com › US
3 days ago - North Dakota officials are trying to determine if Tesoro Corp. knew about potential problems — including one deemed "serious" in documents ...
North Dakota Pipeline Spill Estimates 'A Guess' At Best After 20,000 ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../north-dakota-oil-spill_n_4105837....3 days ago - BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Scientists who helped calculate oilspilled from a broken BP well into the Gulf of Mexico are questioning the ...
Tesoro detected anomalies on North Dakota pipeline before spill ...
www.reuters.com/.../tesoro-spill-northdakota-idUSL1N0I71QW2013101...
2 days ago - Oct 17 (Reuters) - Tesoro Logistics LP on Thursdaysaid it detected anomalies during an inspection of its20-year-old North Dakota pipeline days ...
Tesoro detected anomalies on North Dakota line before spill ...
news.yahoo.com/tesoro-detected-anomalies-north-dakota-pipeline-spill-1...
2 days ago - From Yahoo News: (Reuters) - Tesoro Logistics LP detected anomalies during an inspection of its 20-year-old North Dakota pipeline just days ...
Tesoro Logistics Pipeline Spills 20,000 Barrels in North Dakota ...
online.wsj.com/.../SB1000142405270230338200457912760410835451...
A Tesoro Logistics crude pipeline spilled about 20000 barrels of oil in a rural field in northwest North Dakota, in what appears to be the largest spill in the Bakken ...
Scientists question 20,000-barrel North Dakota oil spill estimate ...
www.foxnews.com/.../scientists-question-20000-barrel-north-dakota-oil-...
4 days ago - Scientists question 20,000-barrel North Dakota oil spill estimate ... which owns the 20-year-old North Dakota pipeline, said Tuesday that it will ...Images for north dakota pipeline spill
- Report images
North Dakota Pipeline Oil Spill - Killing Ground In North ... - Esquire
3 days ago - Because it is a pipeline, and pipelines burst, this one burst.
ND wants answers on ruptured pipeline inspections | CNS News
cnsnews.com/news/.../nd-wants-answers-ruptured-pipeline-inspections
3 days ago - Pipeline Break North Dakota. FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2013 file photo, cleanup work is seen at the site of an oil pipeline leak and spill beyond an ...
North Dakota wants answers on pipeline leak - THonline.com ...
www.thonline.com/.../article_30d9d70c-4065-57ec-a7df-07c664be847e....
2 days ago - BISMARCK, N.D. -- North Dakota officials are trying to determine if Tesoro Corp. knew about potential problems -- including one deemed ...
North Dakota farmer discovers largest oil spill on U.S. soil in the ...
www.nydailynews.com/.../farmer-field-largest-oil-spill-u-s-soil-article-1....
3 days ago - Steve Jensen discovered an oil spill on his land in a remote area of North Dakota, due to a busted Tesoro Corp. pipeline running under his farm ...
