The key concern of protesters at Standing Rock has been and remains the environmental hazard posed by Energy Transfer Partners’ 1886km pipeline, which would have the potential to taint local water supplies and destroy sacred grounds. Confirming those exact fears, a pipeline in North Dakota has spilled some 666,232L of crude into a creek 241km north of the protest encampments.
Image: AP Photo/David Goldman
CNBC reported the spill poured unrefined petroleum into the Ash Coulee Creek for several hours. Electronic monitoring systems in the Belle Fourche pipeline failed for unknown reasons. Although a shutdown contained further leakage, those 666,232L spread 10km into the surrounding area. The spill was discovered by an unnamed individual in Belfield, ND on December 5, but the actual date of the spill is unknown.
Seems like those people who have been camped out in the freezing cold and sprayed with firehoses — and the Army Core of Engineers who are moving to block the completion of the pipeline’s construction through Standing Rock — might have a point, huh?
[CNBC]