Pipeline Company to Pay $35 Million in Criminal Fines and Civil Penalties for Largest-Ever Inland Spill of Produced Water from Oil Drilling
Source: https://www.justice.gov/, August 5, 2021
The Department of Justice today filed criminal charges under the Clean Water Act against Summit Midstream Partners LLC, a North Dakota pipeline company that discharged 29 million gallons of produced water from its pipeline near Williston, North Dakota, over the course of nearly five months in 2014-2015.
The discharge of more than 700,000 barrels of “produced water” – a waste product of hydraulic fracturing – contaminated land, groundwater, and over 30 miles of tributaries of the Missouri River. The spill, believed to be the largest inland spill in history, was visible in photographs taken by satellites orbiting the earth. Read more.