Oil Pipeline Developer to Pay $35M in Big Frack Spill Settlement
Oil pipeline firm Summit Midstream Partners will pay $35 million in federal and state criminal and civil fines for a 29-million-gallon hydraulic fracking wastewater spill that contaminated land, water and groundwater near Williston, N.D.,for months in 2014-15 before it was halted, said the U.S. Justice Dept. in announcing a settlement with the firm ans affiliates earlier this month.
The event, which affected 30 miles of tributaries of the Missouri River, "is believed to be the largest inland spill in history [that] was visible in photographs taken by satellites, said Lawrence Starfield, acting assistant administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. EPA and state officials ordered cleanup of contamination caused by the spill, pipeline testing, control room monitoring, and third-party auditing.