Oil drilling has sparked a frenzied prosperity in Jeff Keller's formerly quiet corner of western North Dakota in recent years, bringing an infusion of jobs and reviving moribund local businesses.

But Keller, a natural resource manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, has seen a more ominous effect of the boom, too: Oil companies are spilling and dumping drilling waste onto the region's land and into its waterways with increasing regularity.

Hydraulic fracturing 2014 the controversial process behind the spread of natural gas drilling 2014 is enabling oil companies to reach previously inaccessible reserves in North Dakota, triggering a turnaround not only in the state's fortunes, but also in domestic energy production. North Dakota now ranks second behind only Texas in oil output nationwide.

The downside is waste 2014 lots of it. Companies produce millions of gallons of salty, chemical-infused wastewater, known as brine, as part of drilling and fracking each well. Drillers are supposed to inject this material thousands of feet underground into disposal wells, but some of it isn't making it that far.

According to data obtained by ProPublica, oil companies in North Dakota reported more than 1,000 accidental releases of oil, drilling wastewater or other fluids in 2011, about as many as in the previous two years combined. Many more illicit releases went unreported, state regulators acknowledge, when companies dumped truckloads of toxic fluid along the road or drained waste pits illegally.

State officials say most of the releases are small. But in several cases, spills turned out to be far larger than initially thought, totaling millions of gallons. Releases of brine, which is often laced with carcinogenic chemicals and heavy metals, have wiped out aquatic life in streams and wetlands and sterilized farmland. The effects on land can last for years, or even decades.

Compounding such problems, state regulators have often been unable 2014 or unwilling 2014 to compel energy companies to clean up their mess, our reporting showed.

Under North Dakota regulations, the agencies that oversee drilling and water safety can sanction companies that dump or spill waste, but they seldom do: They have issued fewer than 50 disciplinary actions for all types of drilling violations, including spills, over the past three years.

Keller has filed several complaints with the state during this time span after observing trucks dumping wastewater and spotting evidence of a spill in a field near his home. He was rebuffed or ignored every time, he said.

"There's no enforcement," said Keller, 50, an avid outdoorsman who has spent his career managing Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir created by damming the Missouri River. "None."

State officials say they rely on companies to clean up spills voluntarily, and that in most cases, they do. Mark Bohrer, who oversees spill reports for the Department of Mineral Resources, the agency that regulates drilling, said the number of spills is acceptable given the pace of drilling and that he sees little risk of long-term damage.

Kris Roberts, who responds to spills for the Health Department, which protects state waters, agreed, but acknowledged that the state does not have the manpower to prevent or respond to illegal dumping.

"It's happening often enough that we see it as a significant problem," he said. "What's the solution? Catching them. What's the problem? Catching them."

Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a lobbying group, said the industry is doing what it can to minimize spills and their impacts.

"You're going to have spills when you have more activity," he said. "I would think North Dakotans would say the industry is doing a good job."

In response to rising environmental concerns related to drilling waste, North Dakota's legislature passed a handful of new regulations this year, including a rule that bars storing wastewater in open pits.

25 Comments

1. 1. Profitsup 05:19 PM 6/7/12

   This is just very questionable - explain how the millions of miles of asphalt roads that are just oil, sand and rock which leaches the oil out every time it rains. I see no complaints about oil spills when they re-coat the roads with oil and sand.
   
   This is just more scare tactics of pseudo science.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. Commie1 in reply to Profitsup 09:40 PM 6/7/12

   It is unbelievable that trolls like you still exist.
   profit is as profit does will soon be ended by the masses.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. Mac11380 in reply to Commie1 10:00 PM 6/7/12

   You are the troll, not one case of damage from fracking has been proven, not one. Also, fracking does not even start until about 7000' below the surface so the the chance of damage is almost non existent. The same fracking process is used to frack water wells too.
   Mostly scare tactics from wacko environmentalist.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. jack77 11:06 PM 6/7/12

   The grocery stores could make a big profit selling vegetables and beef grown on frack free land. Who wants to eat food products soaked in toxic drilling waste water. Who wants to buy land after it has been fracked. Fracked land values will plummet. Soon the only safe place to buy food products from will be Vermont. This state has the foresight to ban fracking.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

5. 5. Mythusmage 11:57 PM 6/7/12

   There's an old saying in table-top roleplaying game circles that goes, "whenever you offer the players two alternatives they will always come up with a third.)
   
   Think of the people in this story as being the players; think of the two choices you offered as the two alternatives; now imagine all the "third choices" they might come up with.
   
   Remember, in any game of "Would You Rather" there's always the choice of killing the person who asked the question.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

6. 6. geojellyroll 09:24 AM 6/8/12

   ""There's no enforcement," said Keller, 50, an avid outdoorsman who has spent his career managing Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir created by damming the Missouri River. "None."
   
   Hint....that dam did more damage to the the natural environment than all the drilling in the state.
   
   Yes, fossil energy extraction monitoring should be diligent.However, the hypocrisy is dripping with irony... farming isby far the biggest environmental rapist in North America.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

7. 7. JamesDavis 09:25 AM 6/8/12

   Unbelievable! Three out of the first five comments are from people who work for the oil companies, and commenter #3 must be the conservative (R)CEO of those oil companies. How can anyone deny this is happening when the evidence is right there in front of them and say that these people are lying on the oil companies just to try and get some money from the oil companies? The republicans must be the stupidest people in America. "Drill Baby Drill"!!! and don't look behind curtain #3 or curtain #2 or curtain #1.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

8. 8. JamesDavis in reply to geojellyroll 09:33 AM 6/8/12

   I'm surprised you didn't suggest they close down all the farms and build four or five nuclear power plants on the land and use that dammed up water to store the radioactive waste from the power plants and the fracking waste from the oil companies.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

9. 9. Profitsup 11:37 AM 6/8/12

   My God,
   
   The E=GREEN logic is dripping with false premises and pure emotion based scare tactics supported by ZERO FACTS-
   
   Fracking will not effect the value of land anymore than highway [oil soaked sand and rock roads] frontage is reduced in value. The food grow next to the highway is somehow less that produced off dirt roads. Find a high school near you that teaches night chemistry classes and take them.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

10. 10. jack77 12:14 PM 6/8/12

    You sound like you are high on frack.
    

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

11. 11. Profitsup 12:22 PM 6/8/12

    Jack77
    
    Typical left wing nutter - no facts so attack the other party and call names - get some facts and come back you are boring ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

12. 12. beakgeek in reply to Mac11380 12:53 PM 6/8/12

    Mac
    
    There are at least 27 legal cases against companies using the fracking technique that have either shown that fracking caused damage or the company settled with the person bringing the lawsuit. Most are from contaminated drinking water that was caused by the fluids used for fracking - alpha methylstyrene - or methane. You might want to get your fact straight before claiming "not one case of damage from fracking has been proven, not one."

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

13. 13. Profitsup in reply to beakgeek 12:58 PM 6/8/12

    Please provide the case that has been settled by a Judge and court findings of fact and legal opinions. Like auto accidents many law suits and not many court awards.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

14. 14. Profitsup in reply to jack77 01:22 PM 6/8/12

    All California and Arizona farm products and animal products are FRACK FREE and so me are even free range.
    so just pay more to be FRACK SAFE - get real.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

15. 15. beakgeek in reply to Profitsup 03:07 PM 6/8/12

    Profitsup - Let me get this straight.....your argument is:
    
    If there is no legal case against fracking settled by a judge it is not an issue.
    
    Correct?
    
    The companies involved with fracking settle out of court and have the records sealed for good reason. It would be a PR disaster for them to allow one case to go to court and be decided by a judge.
    
    Let me ask you a question. If you live where you get your drinking water from a well would you allow fracking to take place?
    
    And rather than call people left wing nutter, why not engage in a discussion with out the sophomoric name calling.
    

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

16. 16. Profitsup in reply to beakgeek 03:31 PM 6/8/12

    The other party was the name caller - I responded with factual questions but not a single answer. Like your current post - you have no evidence there have been any case where the settlement or claim did not stem from a accidental spill. The wells that have been posted all around by the E=GREEN have been proven to have the issues prior to the fracking process was even invented.
    
    Tests have been run and zero fracking chemicals were present in the problem wells. Now are we having a conversation. It seems rather one sided to me as I will provide facts and no one else presents a single fact.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

17. 17. FracMaster 04:34 PM 6/8/12

    Brine water is better known as salt water. There are traces of some chemicals but the concentrations are small. But it does not really matter. There are millions of gallons of salt water produced daily. It is all hauled off and disposed of in the Dakota formation. The Dakota formation about 5500 ft deep, equal to a 550 story bilding below the surface, and is over 60 Million years old. The capacity of the Dakota formation is practically unlimited. The "quaility" of the water injected into the Dakota formation is better than what is already there. The water in the Dakota formation is loaded with salt and other chemicals that mother nature put there.
    
    There are few cases where a truck driver disposed of a load of salt water improperly. These are few and far between. The reason there are only 50 violations in three years is that is all there were. When caught the truck driver never works in the oil patch again. If the county sheriff catches him he is in jail.
    
    People who make rash statements about fracing don't care what the facts are they just want all of humanity to live in a idealized green world that cannot exist in caves I guess.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

18. 18. Profitsup in reply to FracMaster 04:42 PM 6/8/12

    Thank you for you have backed up my posts. The E=GREENS are all about rumors and just stopping any and all advancements in harvesting America natural resources. They have no factual evidence except unlimited legal finances from the government using the ACLU and EPA, EEOC, and other agency rules and regulations [not actually laws]which many have been reversed in courts.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

19. 19. singing flea in reply to Mac11380 09:24 AM 6/9/12

    "You are the troll, not one case of damage from fracking has been proven, not one."
    
    Read the article fool. You trolls who make these ridiculous assertions apparently can't even read.
    
    You sound like Bart Simpson. "I didn't do it. Nobody saw me and you can't prove anything."
    
    An even more asinine comment is from Profitsup who said, "Fracking will not effect the value of land anymore than highway [oil soaked sand and rock roads] frontage is reduced in value."
    
    As if his name wasn't enough to betray his motives, he actually believes that contaminated farmland and rivers makes the land worth more after they sucked out all the mineral resources and made it worthless for future farming.
    
    Farmland is not a highway and a highway is not for growing crops. Only a brainwashed moron would think otherwise.
    
    I don't know about you, but I don't grow vegetables next to the road. Only oilmen could be that stupid.
    
    
    

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

20. 20. Profitsup in reply to singing flea 11:18 AM 6/9/12

    Dear Flea,
    
    You lack of technical education yells out ignorance - Fracking is less damaging to the land [soils] than OIL BASED ASPHALT used all over the nation. For this is the source of oil in rivers and deltas. Now that being said oil has a rather large number of bacteria that EAT the oil so it is broken down and becomes harmless food for other life forms.
    
    You can surly blurt out the nasty hateful names another proof that you lack an organized mind that can actually gasp complex thoughts.
    
    
    A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker. BUDDHA
    
    

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

21. 21. rknight101 11:31 PM 6/10/12

    
    The Academy Award nominated documentary "Gasland" shows the devastating effects fracking is already having on real people nationwide.
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dZe1AeH0Qz8
    
    
    

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

22. 22. guschris1 in reply to Commie1 12:05 AM 6/11/12

    Most of this article is not true, These companys are doing everything they can do to keep the spills down, and they are over the top about safety. I know this first hand. Do you?
    

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

23. 23. singing flea 02:01 AM 6/11/12

    These companies all have their little worker bees that know first hand what is going on. If I was poor enough and dumb enough to have to work for one I would lie about it all too.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

24. 24. Profitsup in reply to singing flea 05:22 PM 6/11/12

    Flea your dog has run off and left you abandoned at the altar of fools beliefs. Get facts or get going - you are Obama light - lie lie lie and then attack those that provide proofs that expose your lies. LOL

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

25. 25. Profitsup in reply to Commie1 05:23 PM 6/11/12

    Without profits there are no taxes and no welfare - all will need to work or starve 0 Oh no!

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this