Maddow: North Dakota Oil Rigs Producing "Dozens Of Tons Of Highly Radioactive Waste EVERYDAY"

MOXNEWSd0tC0M


   



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BismarckTribune

Radioactive dump site found in remote North Dakota town

March 11, 2014 1:08 pm  •  By Lauren Donovan

This photo show the inside of an abandoned gas station in the remote Divide County town of Noonan that contains an estimated 200 industrial-sized garbage backs full of radioactive filter socks, a waste byproduct of oil production. The situation is under investigation and officials are taking some steps to secure the building.

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Noonan mayor angry over situation with radioactive filter socks

Noonan Mayor Cyndie Fagerbakke said she is "disgusted" with whoever dumped the radioactive waste in an old gas station. Read more

Police and state health officials are investigating the illegal dumping of radioactive filter socks in an abandoned gas station in the tiny remote town of Noonan in Divide County.
“This is a vacant building filled with toxic waste,” said Divide County Sheriff’s Deputy Zach Schroeder, lead investigator, who says the building’s apparent owner is a fugitive on felony larceny charges in Wyoming and so far not traceable.
The building’s contents were reported two weeks ago to Divide County Emergency Manager Jody Gunlock, who said the situation was turned over to the state Health Department and Divide County law enforcement.
Health Department waste division manager Scott Radig said the building contains at least twice as much filter sock material and is more than twice as radioactive as the open trailers loaded with the socks discovered near Watford City three weeks ago.
Schroeder said six separate rooms in the old Mobil gas station contain industrial-sized black garbage bags of filter socks. He estimates at least 200 bags or more are piled into the dirt-floor structure’s warren of rooms.
Schroeder said he’s trying to track down the building owner so the state can jointly develop a cleanup plan. He said county records show Ken Ward, or his wife, own the building as of January 2012, though property taxes for the year were paid by his mother, Edie Ward, who sells real estate in Montana. He said Ken Ward, who escaped police custody, is nowhere to be found.
From records in the building, Schroeder said he has identified a filter sock supply company, Acceleration Production of Watford City, and hopes that will help identify the oil field service company that used them in oil field operations and ditched them in the building.

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Related articles

• Radioactive 'Oil Socks' Found Illegally Stockpiled In Abandoned North Dakota Gas Station
• Radioactive dump site found in remote North Dakota town
• Radioactive dump site found in gas station owned by Wyoming fugitive
• Officials: Cache of illegal oil field waste found
• Noonan mayor angry over situation with radioactive filter socks
• Officials: Cache of illegal oil field waste found
• Radioactive waste rules on fast track

HAZMAT - State of North Dakota, Watford City

Earth Watch Report  -  Hazmat

LAUREN DONOVAN/Bismarck Tribune

These orange-tinted filter socks are most likely "hot," said McKenzie County landfill manager Rick Schreiber. He initially received the report that thousands of pounds of the potentially radioactive filter socks and other material was leaking off a trailer in a rural location in the county. 

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February 22 2014 06:10 PM

HAZMAT

USA

State of North Dakota, Watford City

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HAZMAT in USA on Saturday, 22 February, 2014 at 18:10 (06:10 PM) UTC.

Description

Federal and state health officials are investigating leaking trailers loaded with thousands of pounds of potentially radioactive filter socks and debris parked on rural property southwest of Watford City. A special agent with the Environmental Protection Agency criminal investigations unit is assigned to the case and a radiation control team from the state Health Department was on scene Friday. Brad Torgerson, with the state Health Department's waste management division, said the team determined that radiation levels "do not appear to present any public health hazards." He said the company, RP Services, of Riverton, Wyo., was told to put the waste in proper containers and submit a plan for cleanup. A formal enforcement action is possible, Torgerson said. EPA special agent Dan O'Malley contacted state health officials about the waste; when contacted by the Tribune, O'Malley said he could not confirm his agency's investigation. The RP Services trailers are parked on property owned by Russ and Mary Williams, whose separate company was involved in an illegal filter sock disposal that led to a $27,000 fine at the McKenzie County landfill operation last summer. The filter socks are a notorious source of radioactive material because they concentrate naturally occurring radiation from geology down the well hole. The Health Department says the filters should not be landfilled anywhere in North Dakota and instead, should be handled by certified companies for disposal at hazardous waste sites in other states. The trailers loaded with the leaking material and filter socks were reported Thursday to McKenzie County landfill director Rick Schreiber. Schreiber has adopted a tough policy and his is the first landfill in the country to install radiation detection pedestals that monitor every load coming into the landfill. The Health Department is awaiting results of a study on radioactive oil field and other waste before deciding whether to raise its allowable limit of radiation and how disposal sites would be constructed. Because landfills won't take the socks and levy fines when haulers are caught bringing them in, they sometimes end up in community Dumpsters around towns and roadside ditches. Jerry Samuelson, McKenzie County's emergency manager, said the JP Services incident illustrates how oil development stretches local governments.

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Riverton company's trailers found leaking toxic material in N.D.

 

LAUREN DONOVAN/Bismarck Tribune

These Geiger pedestals at the McKenzie County, N.D., landfill weigh station are the first in the country installed to detect radioactive waste. They're so sensitive, they beeped recently because a truck driver had ingested a barium product for medical testing.

By LAUREN DONOVAN Bismarck Tribune

(1) Comments

MCKENZIE COUNTY, N.D. — Federal and state health officials are investigating leaks from trailers loaded with thousands of pounds of potentially radioactive filter socks and debris parked on rural land in North Dakota.
The trailers are owned by a Wyoming company, RP Services. A North Dakota Health Department official said the Riverton company had been instructed to dispose of the waste in proper containers and submit a cleanup plan.
A special agent in the Environmental Protection Agency criminal investigations unit was assigned to the case, and on Friday, a radiation control team from the state Health Department showed up at the property, which is southwest of Watford City, N.D.
Brad Torgerson, of the state Health Department’s waste management division, said the team determined that radiation levels “do not appear to present any public health hazards.” Formal enforcement action is possible, Torgerson said.

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Related articles

• Potentially radioactive material spilling out of trailers near Watford City
• Riverton company's trailers found leaking toxic material in N.D.
• Strange Byproduct Of Fracking Boom: Radioactive Socks

US railroad oil spills in 2013 surpassed previous four decades combined

Published time: January 23, 2014 01:25

Reuters / Athit Perawongmetha

Tags
Accident, Biology, Canada, SciTech, USA

Newly unveiled federal data indicates that more crude oil was spilled in US railway incidents in 2013 than in the prior 37 years combined, inspiring lawmakers to push for new safety standards that could avoid similarly devastating incidents in the future.
Altogether, 800,000 gallons spilled from US railroads in the years from 1975 to 2010. That data, which comes from the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, does not include records of Canadian spills, some of which are thought to surpass one million gallons spilled on their own.
In part because of major derailments in Alabama and North Dakota, over 1.15 million gallons of crude oil seeped from train cars.
North Dakota crude, the type of oil examined in the government research, tends to have very low density, which means it is made of more volatile compounds that could increase its flammability and make the crude more difficult to clean up.
A single rail car contains approximately 28,800 gallons of oil. According to McClatchy newspapers, 400,000 carloads – over 11.5 billion gallons – were shipped across the continent in 2013. That is an astounding success rate of 99.99 percent, although the spills that did occur were problematic enough to make international headlines.


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Biological Hazard - State of North Dakota, [Adams County] : Anthrax - Bovine

Earth Watch Report - Biological Hazards

 English: Hallaway Dairy Farm in Delhi, New York, USA, September 1999. USDA Photo.
 ***Photo is simply a representation of Cattle in the US

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06.06.2013

Biological Hazard

USA

State of North Dakota, [Adams County]

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Biological Hazard in USA on Thursday, 06 June, 2013 at 05:41 (05:41 AM) UTC.

Description
North Dakota’s first case of anthrax this year has been confirmed in Hettinger County, and the state veterinarian said conditions are right for more cases. "A case of anthrax in an unvaccinated beef cow has been confirmed ... near the Adams County line, the first confirmed case in the state this year," said state veterinarian Susan Keller. "Producers should consult with their veterinarians to make sure the vaccination schedule for their animals is up to date," she said. Beth Carlson, deputy state veterinarian, said anthrax - which is caused by a naturally-occurring bacteria - is spread when animals graze or consume forage or water contaminated with spores produced by the bacteria. With the amount of rain received in the state, Carlson said, the water will move those spores around, increasing the chances of more reports. "Certainly, we will not be surprised if we see more cases," she said. Carlson said if producers have had a history of anthrax in their area, they should consult with their veterinarian on vaccinations. She said the vaccine is relatively inexpensive and very effective, but needs about a week to take effect. Anthrax, however, moves rapidly and is fatal within a day of symptoms appearing. Those symptoms include labored breathing, weakness and staggering and bloody discharges from body openings after death. Carlson said each year there are some confirmed cases of anthrax in the state and it has been found in nearly every part of the state, although most frequently it occurs in the northeast, southeast and south central areas. Cattle are not the only animals susceptible, she said. Sheep, horses, bison, deer - all animals that graze - are at risk. The worst outbreak of anthrax happened in 2005 when more than 500 cattle were confirmed to have died from the disease. Carlson said the death toll was likely more than 1,000 animals, however, because in cases when single animals died, those animals were not tested for the disease.
Biohazard name:	Anthrax
Biohazard level:	0/4 ---
Biohazard desc.:	This does not included biological hazard category.

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North Dakota top veterinarian reports first animal anthrax case of 2013

North Dakota agriculture officials is advising livestock owners to take the appropriate actions to protect their animals from the lethal bacterial disease, anthrax, after a cow turned up positive, according to a North Dakota Department of Agriculture news release June 5.

Image/Agricultural Research Service/USDA

“A case of anthrax in an unvaccinated beef cow has been confirmed in Hettinger County near the Adams County line, the first confirmed case in the state this year,” said Dr. Susan Keller. “Producers should consult with their veterinarians to make sure the vaccination schedule for their animals is up to date.” Keller said effective anthrax vaccines are readily available, but that it takes about a week for immunity to be established, and it must administered annually. Anthrax has been most frequently reported in northeast, southeast and south central North Dakota, but it has been found in almost every part of the state,” she said. “With the precipitation we have had, conditions are right for the disease to occur,” she said. Anthrax is a pathogen in livestock and wild animals. Some of the more common herbivores are cattle, sheep, goats, horses, camels and deers. It infects humans primarily through occupational or incidental exposure with infected animals of their skins.   Read Full Article Here .... ....