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Guest Post: North Dakota Farmer Stumbles on Massive Oil Leak
Submitted by Joao Peixe via OilPrice.com,
A farming harvesting his fields in North Dakota has come across a massive oil spill, undetected long enough to become the size of seven football fields.

Local media reports cite farmer Steve Jensen as saying the crude appeared to becoming from a rupture in an underground pipeline operated by Tesoro Corp.
The farmer noted that he had smelled the crude for days but it wasn’t until he began harvesting his wheat fields that he discovered the source of the smell, as his combine got caught up in crude spewing up to six inches above the ground.

The spill, discovered on 29 September and since contained, is one of the largest ever in the history of North Dakota. A total of 20,600 barrels of crude was leaked into the field, spreading over 7.3 acres. To put this into perspective, this leak is four times larger than a leak in Arkansas in late March that prompted the evacuation of 20 residences.
It took state authorities 12 days to report the spill after the farmer alerted them.
According to Tesoro Corp., no water sources were contaminated during the spill, but the fact that it went undetected long enough to spread so far, coupled with the 12-day reporting delay by officials, has raised more questions about leak detection policies.
"There are many questions to be answered on how it occurred and how it was detected and if there was anything that could have been done that could have made a difference," state Governor Jack Dalrymple told reporters.
"Initially, it was felt that the spill was not overly large," Dalrymple said. "When they realized it was a fairly sizable spill, they began to contact more people about it."
The spill gives more ammunition to watchdog groups who have been calling for more transparency and better leak detection processes for pipeline operators.
Earlier leaks in Kalamazoo and Arkansas were massive and caused by complete pipeline ruptures. These are rare incidents that account for less than 10% of leaks. But the small leaks--those that traditional pipeline detection systems don’t catch—account for more than 90% of US pipeline leaks.
According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the majority of leaks are smaller but can persist for months or even years, and those that are even reported are generally done so by people who have stumbled upon them by accident.
In this case, the leak was larger than the Arkansas leak, but also only detected by a farmer who stumbled upon it with his harvesting equipment—and now the land will not be usable for planting for years.
According to Adrian Banica, CEO of Synodon--which has developed advanced remote sensing leak detection systems--traditional leak detection systems are only able to detect high level leaks above 1% of the pipeline flow.
Furthermore, as the Department of Transportation has recently pointed out, these systems only detect a leak at best about 40% of the time, irrespective of how big the leak is.
“For catastrophic leaks, most pipelines use these flow meters which operate 24/7. But smaller leaks can only be detected by performing an above-ground survey either by foot patrol, vehicle or aircraft. The predominant technologies used would be sampling gas sensors, thermal cameras, laser detection or our remote sensing system,”
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Texas Tea
Then one day I was farmin' for some food, and up from the ground came the spillin' crude.
Let's see... 20,000 barrels over 7 acres gives him a 3,000 barrel per acre yield. And since they don't spend much on pipeline maintenance he'll probably do even better next year...
His farm will be forced into sale to a big oil company. If he refuses, he'll mysteriously commit suicide.
Give a man enough rope, and he will hang hisself.
In unrelated story, Russian custodial engineer is stumble on massive subterranean copper ore deposit, incur only minor injury.
Thank god they gave wind farms a pass on killing bald eagles. This oil shit has to end
Your copper mine meme makes me lol every time!
You ever get stateside look up the RafterMan; man great uncle has a sandmine out West we can work.
If he's lucky. If not, he will be pulled into an auger in a horrible accident without any witnesses.
At $100/barrel, he ought to do alright.
I'll take "who is Jed Clampett" for $500. ;-)
Seriously though, if it's on/near the surface, it's HIS. They gotta buy him out. Hope he goes for offshore bullion, not fiat or BTC.
No kidding, also I bet his property is contaminated big time.
I thought i was "a bubblin' crude"
took a license.
20,600 barrels at a conservative $80 pre barrel he now owes the oil company $1,648,000 for "stealing" their oil.
Impedance. Tyler they could simply and inexpensively use impedance sensors to monitor the impedance along every pipeline and detect tiny leaks through their effect in changing the intersensor impedance. If anybody is interested I can provide more details, the sensor is based on the construction of a no-leak statistical pattern for each segment of the pipeline and to monitor consistent and progressive deviations from the pattern.
and to clean the spill in a natural way, refer to www.oti.ag
i cannot believe that this product is not used more widely, although since 20 years on the market.
Bye bye Keystone XL
The Keystone XL is already canceled no? Canada was tired of waiting so made a deal with the Chicoms instead.
There's a headline from today about how the gov't shutdown could delay a decision about it, so I assume it's still up for grabs.
Wookie's garden rots because the staff were told not to tend to it...
Like she couldn't go out and pick some tomatoes, make some spaghetti sauce herself for the starving brats in DC without EBT cards, what?
Goof is playing Golf
We'll get to that pipeline shit after we give a couple more speeches.
FFS, you people expect them to make decisions or work?!?!?
Wookie & Goof...+1000 perfect...
That Wookie ain't yard trained let alone house broken!
The shut-down has already delayed a line I'm working on by at least 2 weeks. The 'investors' were a bit tardy getting their Federal permitting through....cheap bastards never counted on this ceiling debacle. HA!
YUMMMMM !!!
Cream of Wheat !
You misspelled "crude" there, pardner. :>D
so... was the wheat still good?
As good as the Tuna in the Pacific and the groundwater below his farm that wasn't affected.
Don't forget the Corexit spiced gulf shrimp. Mmmmmmm.
.
"According to Tesoro Corp., no water sources were contaminated during the spill"
Close enough for government(-regulated) work. Let's build one over the Ogallala Aquifer.
It has excellent viscosity.
I predict the farmer will get rich on a niche product, "self-toasting toast", which will work just like match-light charcoal does.
Why, yes. After all, 20,600 barrels is the equivalent of the Deepwater Horizon (official BP numbers), and that was completely harmless (official BP informational leaflet).
Ummmmm ....
Oh man....
You had to bring that shit back up....
What shit?
The GoM has never been in a better state, now that BP generously have invested billions in creating a viable ecosystem for all of us to enjoy.
Aaragggggggggggghhhhhhhhh!
Hell yea nothing better than crude soaked GNO wheat , I'll take a double order..
Does this mean he's moving to Beverly Hills?
Come listen to a story about a man named Jed...
....an' up came a bubblin' crude. Aiwl that is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtvTE3m5jpM
Let's all sing it together now.
Ya'll come back now Keystone XL.....ya' hear?
It'll probably commit suicide tonight... the oil company will totally not be implicated.
Just leave it be and that could become the biggest tourist attraction in North Dakota.
Treachery in Capitalism 101
Said farmer, being a real opportunist then takes piles of large bones and throws them into the deepest part of the oil.
Places billboards along Highway 2 between Minot and Williston announcing La Brea Tar Pit of the North...
With Elly Mae Clampett!
Charges $12 per adult, $7 per child, compleate with RV park, the Real Captain Spaulding's Thrill Rides and Kiddies Meat Market Adventure, the largest A&W Root Beer stand west of the Mississippi (including a nightly burning man style flaming model of Uncle Stinkie from Omaha) fountains of "oil soda" and "oil Slurpees", whorehouse, shooting range, bars and liquor stores (plural), casino and takes EBT cards
All on newly declared Indian lands and sacred burial grounds so not a thing ND or the Feds can do about it.
Becomes fucking millionaire
You had me Elly Mae Clampett. That stuff there just about drove me insane when I was 8 or 9 and I had no idea why...I just knew I *had* to watch it.
Monsanto will sue the farmer for patent infringement of Olestra.
We banked so much from that deal.
Abiotic Anal Leakage
Just light it on fire. That will help find the leak.
His crops will produce better next years anyway. Maybe mix some diesel fuel with it to make sure it burns cleaner.... He can probably market it as Organic Crops
Fine the farmer for not being more in tune with his crops...
Give the gophers more iPhones.
Little oil never hurt nuthin'. We put it on salad right?
Goddamn eco-commies wanna turn this here great-n-glorious country commie red, I'm tellin ya.
Guy's a fucking wheat hugger.
I drink your milkshake!
Tankers need to be double-hulled to operate in U.S. waters. Gas stations need double tanks to prevent leaks. The only way to detect and stop leaks in pipelines is by putting a pipe in a pipe. We need to face up to this.
Yep, we all use redundancies.
Kinda like a double bagger in college...
Waaaa, but dat'll cost more!!! Yur hurtin' jurb creashun.
All wheat stalks need to be double wheated, using GMO.
All farmers in shale oil areas must be double hulled.
Exponential growth isn't only possible, it is our birthright.
The farmer gets to keep the oil right? The oil companty can have the wheat. And with regards to Keystone XL, all signs point to sabotage.
Blondie - Rapture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g (4:55)
Got more oil on my garage floor.
This used to mean “I’m rich” ala Jed Clampett, i.e. 20,600 bbls x $100 /bbl = $2,060,000.Today it means “We’re rich” ala EPA, i.e., 20,600 bbls x $4,300 /bbl fine = $88,580,000.
The EPA uses that money to then go clean the spill, right? Right?
Shiiit, them lawyers will eat up that money faster then Dickey Scruggs eat up all that tobacco suit money. "The farmer gets to live and thats all he gets"
How long before an enterprising individual taps one of these knowing a one percent leak will never be detected ?
Hella good idea hoss. Siphon LLC. or some such. First on the agenda for that type of undertaking should be to learn the crazy old prospctor dance, it's just common sense.
Not my idea, and like everything else it's been done before.
“Originality is the art of concealing your sources.”
? Benjamin Franklin
Another entrenched red-herring story to influence the need for EPA. This entire story is a wagon train circling around the debt ceiling calamity.
Just look at where the LAX ice bomb story got them today. Smoke must be pluming from their ears in creating new fear mongering material for the masses to react.
Good morning honey.Would you like a steaming hot bowl of " Creme of Crude" with your toast?
So they loaded up their wagon and they moved to Beverley.
Jethrooowwwwww!!!!
There is a cost to fillin up my suv
So the oil company can leak 20K barrels and not even miss it? Hmmm, maybe I should think about investing in a small patch of Nebraska farmland.
They mean to tell me the NSA could not detect a leak this big.
What are those phukkerz good for anyway?
they're too busy surfing for porn and spying on little boys.
The NSA is busy protecting us from delicious meals cooked in pressure cookers.
you give them too much credit, the russian mafia told them about the 2 little boys in boston, gave them names and everything...yet the keystone cops couldn't foil the amature plot.
This story makes me sick to know that some of the best farmland on the planet is now worthless.
". . . Said North Dakota is the place you oughta be, so they packed up their drills for a fracking O R gy . . . Cesspools . . . Titty bars . . ."
How nice it would be, down-voter, if fracking were environmentally benign. And while the jury is still out, I have my doubts:
http://aheadoftheherd.com/Newsletter/2013/Fracking-An-Unconventional-Poi...
Nothing against titty bars, though.
You didn't spill that oil.
In the grand scheme of things, that is still pretty insignificant. We've had blowouts put more oil on the ground here is TX, and a little plowing and conditioning and the fields are actually better than pre-crude times.
Big news, maybe, but small story overall.
"Oil that is. Black gold, Texas tea"
-Jerry Scoggins
Dark Bread?
French Battlefields and Oil Gusher|1931
Fast forward to 7 minutes. Where is your EPA back then? What harm has a bi-product the earth created by itself caused you? I can show you many other old videos of an oil gusher rising up from a derrick. Food still grows. The only disaster is a central planning system, who wants you to buy electric cars that travel in a small localized radius.
Listen, I'm not a fucking tree hugger or nothing, but this is just silly.
I can show you documentries that the auto industry and the oil industry decided that municipalities shouldn't have railways. Thus forcing people to buy cars and gas.
There is always a motivation for the fuckers in big business.
Admittedly I'm not totally well read on oil, but logic would dictate that at some point, it will be gone. Soooooo........
The good news is, I don't drive. So I don't give a fuck. (this is the part where someone schools me in how many products use oil)
A bike is a nice way to get to know your neigborhood, and good for the heart was well. ;-P
Far more damaging to insist on avoiding the lower-cost local radius and harming everyone else in the process.
The North Dakota Hillbilies that is....
It took them 12 days to report this leak after learning about it? WTF, over.
If the oil spill caused residual pollen from an adjacent corporate farm to spread to this farmers plants, he'd better get a lawyer fast. Montanso will sue.
deleted post.
And to think how well it will go when the mineral rights taken by developers from homeowners, unbeknowst to them, when they start extracting those minerals.
But, but! "Capital Exploits" claims that we need LESS regulations!
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-10-15/legally-destroying-economy
ALL SYSTEMS FAIL, and BIG systems fail in big ways. Our perpetual-growth-on-a-finite-planet system is gonna FAIL HUGE!
Farmer jon scored big he just did not know it. He should/coulda dug a nice sump, collected all that them there earl and trucked and done sold it and mades him a heap-o-money.
Big fucking deal. Food for bacteria; ultimately food for us all.
Time for a 2 billion dollar Energy Dept. research grant to study if oil contaminated dirt can be fed directly into your gas tank after digestion by GMO gerbils.
Your auto-correct missed 'KOCH INDUSTRIES'
fixed it for ya.
good thing keystone XL like all pipelines will be super-secure & accident-proof, that global warming is a hoax, that inflation is definitely under 1% and of course that abortion is murder of a person who doesn't even exist.
Congratulations: retards are now in charge.