Eighty-four gallons of crude oil spilled from a pump along the controversial Dakota Access pipeline in South Dakota, the Dakota Media Group reported.
Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the Groundwater Quality Program in the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the spill was not major and it occurred at the surge pump.
“At the pipeline’s pump station there’s what’s called a surge tank, which is used to store crude oil occasionally during the regular operation of the pipeline, ” he told the Dakota Media Group on Tuesday. “And connected to that tank is a pump, which pumps oil back into the pipeline system, and the leak occurred at that surge pump.”
A spokeswoman for the Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners said the breakdown occurred during the pipeline oil filling process.
“Before a line goes into service you have to fill it with crude oil first, ” Vicki Granado said.
The oil was put back into the pipeline, officials said, and the spill was reported and properly cleaned up. It also did not threaten any waterways.
“Size-wise, an 84-gallon release is pretty small relative to a lot of other things we work on, ” Walsh said. “I would characterize it as a small operational spill that was cleaned up right away.”
The pipeline, a 1,172-mile project stretching from North Dakota to Illinois – with a daily capacity of 570,000 barrels of oil – is being fought by American Indian tribes in court.
