No. 12 – Friday Night Special – In North Dakota Accidents Happen

When a kid has an 'accident' at age two, we all understand. But if he is still doing the same thing when he is 72 we know it is time to strap on the Depends.

A small child is not expected to be responsible. The elderly generally have learned enough through living to handle these things themselves. But what do you do with the .01% who just don't 'get' it?

At least the materials generally consigned to diapers and Depends are easily bio-degradable.Though when even using these for clean up burnishes their bottom line, as is the case with Charles Koch, you have to wonder how accidental it all is.  

You are not going to believe what has been going on in North Dakota with the most foul and toxic substances you can imagine. So we are going to show you.

Charles Koch with Depends, to ensure those ugly spills are at least contained.

 North Dakota has had 8,000 spills of the horrible, toxic, reeking stuff which issues out of the pipes which supply Koch Industries with raw material from North Dakota.  

You heard right.  8,000. 

8,000 Spills since 2000 - But whose counting?  

 The material which issues from the pipes on which Charles Koch depends for his raw material includes "oil, Saltwater, Brine, and Other," which means it is even scarier to think about.  

This isn't that nice clean saltwater you play in at the beach.  In this context what they are calling 'Saltwater' is actually Produced Water, a byproduct of fracking. 

The salt in this is the least of it.  

Think really, really nasty, making the contents in Charles Koch's personal Depends look like flowers in May.  

And if using paper goods to cope with Tar Sands Spills sounds absurd remember the rolls of paper towels unfurled in Mayflower, Arkansas last year. As implied earlier, Charles and David Koch produced those paper towels, optimizing their return on investment, so to speak. 

We, the public, generally think in terms of small spills, ones which could be contained in a family swimming pool.  But cast your eyes down to the size of the five largest spills just in North Dakota.  All but one of these took place within the last year.

The 5 largest Fracing-related onshore spills in ND

Name	Date	Location	Company	Gallons	Type	Source	Cause
Mandaree	7/9/14	Bear Den Bay	Crestwood	1 million	Frac water		Pipe separation
Casselton	12/3013		BNSF	400,000	Bakken Oil	Tank Car	Derailment
Big Gumbo Creek	11/25/2013	Bowman Co	Denbury	715,000	Frac Water	3’ Plastic Pipe	Temperature Break
Tioga Farm	9/29/13	N. Tioga	Tesoro	1 million	Bakken Oil	6” pipe	Lightning
Alexander	Jan 2006	N Dakota Creek	Zenergy	1 million	Frac Water	3 “ Plastic Pipe	Who knows? Maybe Charles Koch?

 How big a container do you need to hold a million gallons?  This question has been answered for us by the United States Geological Service.  

As they say on the USGS site, "If you were a swimming-pool builder and a customer asked you to build a pool that would hold a million-gallons, then they had better have a big yard! You would need to build a pool about 267 feet long (almost as long as a football field), 50 feet wide, and 10 feet deep."

Now, what about that 'Saltwater AKA Produced Water, which fills this pool?  

Material Name:                       Produced Water, Sweet
Synonyms:                               Formation Water; Oily Water; Produced Brine; Produced

                                                   Water; Salt Water;

Product Description:                A mixture of water, salts, and hydrocarbons, with variable 

                                                    amounts of impurities.

And what does Continental Resources have to say about the potential dangers of Produced Water? 

 

The folks who produced the information we used, Continental Resources, say this and a lot more.  This is not the stuff you put in your swimming pool.  

Is 'Produced Water a health hazard?  Yes, without doubt. 

 

 But oil companies not only cheerfully ignore spills, if they can get away with it, they leave the residue on other people's property, pretending the problem is handled.  Sort of like a bunch of juvenile delinquents not long out of diapers, actually.   

And what should we adults do about these outrages?  Make sure the perpetrators pay and that a responsible adult, or many responsible adults, keep their eyes on their every move.  Really, Charles and his friends will be happier after they have been disciplined and understand they must behave themselves.  

Make Charles Koch a good, happy baby

Here is our proposal to ensure Big Oil, which has ignored their obligation to do business responsibly, is monitored 24/7 and that the people who live every day with these threats are secure.  Take Action