Pipeline operators to pay $12.5M after crude oil spills in Montana, North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. — Two pipeline operators have agreed to pay a $12.5 million civil penalty associated to crude oil spills in Montana and North Dakota.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday introduced the settlement in a 2022 federal court docket lawsuit. Belle Fourche Pipeline Company and Bridger Pipeline LLC pays the $12.5 million to resolve the claims made beneath the Clean Water Act and Pipeline Safety Laws, the EPA stated. The affiliated corporations personal and function oil pipelines in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

In 2015, Bridger’s Poplar Pipeline broke and spilled greater than 50,000 gallons (about 190,000 liters) of crude into the Yellowstone River close to Glendive, Montana. Bridger has accomplished cleanup of the positioning, and in 2021 settled a lawsuit with federal and Montana authorities for $2 million. Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality beforehand fined Bridger $1 million within the case.

In 2016, Belle Fourche’s Bicentennial Pipeline in Billings County, North Dakota, broke as a result of a landslide and spilled over 600,000 gallons (about 2.3 million liters) of oil, impacting an unnamed tributary, Ash Coulee Creek and the Little Missouri River. Belle Fourche’s cleanup is ongoing with oversight from North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality, in line with the EPA.

The settlement introduced Monday doesn’t resolve all points with the Ash Coulee spill and reserves the federal government’s proper to carry future authorized claims.

The $12.5 million civil penalty features a practically $4.6 million portion for North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality. Belle Fourche additionally pays the state’s previous response prices, totaling over $98,000, in line with court docket paperwork filed Monday.

“Oil pipeline spills can cause enormous and long-lasting damage to the environment,” Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance stated in an announcement. “This settlement holds Belle Fourche and Bridger Pipeline accountable for their significant oil spills and requires them to take meaningful measures to prevent future spills from their oil pipelines.”

The operators are also required to implement specified compliance measures, along with the civil penalty.

Belle Fourche and Bridger are owned by Wyoming-based True Companies.

Bridger spokesman Bill Salvin stated the operators have accomplished all remediation actions required by North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality and “will work closely” with the division if additional motion is required.