Nearly 3 Million Gallons of Saltwater Leak into North Dakota Creek

January 22, 2015
By Ernest Scheyder

Nearly 3 million gallons of saltwater and an unknown quantity of crude oil have leaked from a North Dakota pipeline into a creek that feeds the Missouri River, by far the largest spill of its kind in the state's history, officials said.

The leak, from a saltwater collection line owned by Summit Midstream Partners LP approximately 15 miles north of Williston, occurred sometime earlier this month and was reported to state officials on Jan. 7.

Saltwater is a byproduct of the hydraulic fracturing process. Typically it is filtered and re-injected back into the earth after oil is extracted.

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