BISMARCK, N.D. — Crews in North Dakota are excavating pastureland after more than 120,000 gallons of oil and drilling wastewater overflowed from a tank.
State environmental scientist Bill Suess says the spill happened Wednesday near Marmarth, in southwestern North Dakota, at a site operated by Texas-based Denbury Onshore.
The company says crews may have the spill cleaned up by the end of Friday.
Suess says about 17,000 gallons of oil and 105,000 gallons of what’s called produced water — a mixture of saltwater and oil that can contain drilling chemicals — spilled from a tank after a shut-off sensor failed.
Suess says a berm around the well site didn’t contain the spill. He says an area about the size of a football field was affected but no waterways or drinking water sources are threatened.
