North Dakota Pipeline Break Spews 41K Gallons of Oilfield Wastewater
July 22, 2021
Nearly 41,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater spilled from a broken pipeline in western North Dakota, impacting an unknown amount of land, state regulators said.
The North Dakota Department of Environmental quality said Kansas-based Tallgrass Energy reported the produced water spill on July 19. The break occurred about 6 1/2 miles south of Watford City.
It was not immediately known what caused the leak to the 4-inch plastic composite pipeline. Agency officials were on scene July 21 to oversee the cleanup and investigate the spill, said Karl Rockman, director of the department’s division of water quality.