Oil isn’t even flowing through the Dakota Access pipeline yet, but already there’s been a leak.
"This is what we have said all along: Oil pipelines leak and spill," said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairman Dave Archambault II.
"The Dakota Access pipeline has not yet started shipping the proposed half million barrels of oil per day, and we are already seeing confirmed reports of oil spills from the pipeline."
Watch the VICELAND documentary on Standing Rock: The spill happened April 4 during the testing of a surge pump, according to Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The surge pump had a mechanical failure, but the entire spill happened within a lined containment area.
* Walsh told me that South Dakota typically gets 200 to 300 spills a year from fuel leaks, pipelines, oil wells, and various other sources.
State regulations require companies to report spills right away, and Walsh said ETP did (it reported the spill two days after the fact, on April 6).
That decision could take weeks or months.
asks Hasselman.
As for the April spill, Hasselman pointed out that it would have received more attention if it were a major spill that affected drinking water.