Bismarck Tribune

By LAUREN DONOVBy LAUREN DONOVAN

The oil company that spilled nearly a million gallons of toxic salt water from a pipeline into Charbonneau Creek in western North Dakota this winter formally has been served a notice that it violated North Dakota's environmental laws.

The notice of violation was signed last week and the Oklahoma-based company, Zenergy, has until July 23 to say whether it agrees with the allegations.

The leak was discovered in early January, but may have gone on for two weeks before it was detected.

In the meantime, the toxic salt water ran over frozen ground into the live creek, killing every living thing in the creek and causing local ranchers to pull cattle off the creek for months.

It diluted shy of the mouth of the Yellowstone River, allaying fears that the salt would harm the fragile paddlefish environment in those waters.

North Dakota's environmental chief David Glatt said the notice means Zenergy and the department will now negotiate fines and a monetary settlement to ensure the state recovers its costs in the cleanup.

The State Industrial Commission served the company a separate notice and lists nearly $90,000 in fines.

The company can request a hearing, said Industrial Commission executive director Karlene Fine.

Zenergy is developing an oil field in the area around Charbonneau Creek, where very salty water comes up from deep underground when oil is pumped up.

Ideally, the salty water is piped to a central site from outlying oil wells and reinjected into a deep well.

The pipeline failure could have been detected with gauges, and since the spill, the state Oil and Gas Division has been working with oil companies to improve their gauge and warning systems.

The Zenergy spill was the worst environmental accident in at least a decade.

Its effects are not yet over.

The salt water infiltrated a gravel seam near the creek, and water filling a small dam on the creek still has a lethal salt toxicity at 15,000 parts per million as of this week, Glatt said. The normal level in the creek is closer to 50 parts per million.

Glatt said the remediation plan that Zenergy will likely follow includes pumping out the gravel seam, or walling it off from the creek.

The beaver dam on the creek held the first flush of salt water in the original spill back in January.

The dam is still being pumped regularly as it recharges from the gravel seam to prevent the salt from traveling down the creek.

Glatt said besides dealing with the salt-packed gravel seam, Zenergy will have to reclaim any salt contaminated soils in the area and test for living biota in the creek to help determine the creek's general health and response to the accident.

So far, Glatt said the health department's own costs are near $35,000.

He said Zenergy may have the option of performing an environmental project in the area, rather than make other financial restitution.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)