By now we all have heard the oil boom going on in North and South Dakota….that is has created many, many jobs and the economy is well past the recession in these areas……most of this windfall oil boom comes from oil sands and that means FRACKING!
Is this really the feel good story for the economy that the media and oil companies want? I mean so far it has been fairly incident free….or has it?
(Newser) – Oil spills usually make for big news—except in North Dakota, where officials have kept mum about hundreds of leaks involving thousands of barrels of oil, Grist reports. About 750 “oil field incidents” have occurred there since January of last year, according to records obtained by the AP, and one massive 20,600-barrel spill was hushed up for nearly two weeks in September. “That’s news to us,” said the head of a pro-environment group in North Dakota. “The public should really know about these”
Like other oil-producing states, North Dakota isn’t legally obliged to tell people about oil spills. But the state produces millions of barrels a day and approved some 2,500 miles of new pipelines last year, so spills may be an increasing risk to farmland and water. Now exposed, state officials are contemplating a website that will inform the public of at least some spills. But a wheat farmer said he also wants to see oil companies and regulators held accountable: “Right now, you don’t know if there is a spill unless you find it yourself,” he said.
Oh boy…..yes we have a problem today….just no one wants the rest of the country to know just how bad it is…….just Fracking great, right? It seems the more transparent the technique becomes the more problems we see……Fracking is NOT the answer, my friends!
