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Friday March 24, 2017

// March 24th, 2017 // Comments Off on Friday March 24, 2017 // Daily News

North Dakota oil spill 3 times larger than first estimated
The Associated Press

A December oil pipeline spill in western North Dakota might have been three times larger than first estimated and among the biggest in state history, a state environmental expert said Friday.
About 530,000 gallons of oil is now believed to have spilled from the Belle Fourche Pipeline that was likely ruptured by a slumping hillside about 16 miles northwest of Belfield in Billings County, Health Department environmental scientist Bill Seuss said. The earlier estimate was about 176,000 gallons.
The site of the spill is roughly 150 miles from Cannon Ball, where protesters aligned with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe camped out in opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline for months. Those camps were cleared after President Donald Trump approved the disputed project, siding against activists who fear a spill could contaminate a lake that provides drinking water and that Native Americans hold sacred.
On Friday, Trump approved another project opposed by environmentalists, TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.
No decision has been made on any fines against Wyoming-based True Cos., which operates the Belle Fourche pipeline, following the spill. The company says it is committed to cleaning up the spill and that the job is about 80 percent done.
“There’s no timeline for completion, spokeswoman Wendy Owen said. “We will be there until it is” done.
A company’s efforts to clean up after an oil spill are a large factor in how much of a fine is levied, according to Seuss.
“We tend to hold off on those. It’s kind of a motivator,” he said.
The largest oil pipeline spill in North Dakota was 840,000 gallons, in a wheat field near Tioga in September 2013.
In the December spill, an unknown amount of oil flowed into Ash Coulee Creek, which feeds into the Little Missouri River, a tributary of the Missouri River. Seuss said no oil made it into those rivers or into any drinking water source, but that the focus is on cleaning up the creek before spring grazing season, since cattle drink from the waterway.
There have been no confirmed cases of livestock or wildlife deaths related to the spill. One rancher reported some cattle deaths but refused to allow the state veterinarian to do a necropsy, according to Seuss. Cleanup crews also found a dead beaver, but it’s not known what caused the death.
The pipeline had been leaking since being restarted Dec. 1 following routine maintenance, Seuss said. A landowner discovered the spill on Dec. 5.
There is still oil seeping out of the hillside but it’s being contained. Soil remediation work could take “a year or more,” Seuss said.

Today’s Inspiration

Just for Today

by Joyce Meyer – posted March 24, 2017

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.
— Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I don’t have to tell you that the world is full of problems. Hunger, disease, poverty, the oppression of women, and the exploitation of children are taking place in every country on earth right this minute. Heartbreaking stories are unfolding while you and I drink our morning coffee. I’ve seen so much of the world’s anguish in my ministry travels, and it is truly overwhelming. I have also committed to do whatever I can do to relieve suffering and make the world a better place in any way I can. I challenge you today to do the same.

You may be thinking, Joyce, what I can do won’t even make a dent in the problems we have in the world. I know how you feel, because I once felt the same way. But if we all think that way, nobody will do anything and nothing will change. Although our individual efforts may not solve the problems, together we can make a major difference. God won’t hold us accountable for what we could not do, but He will hold us accountable for the things we could have done.

I realize that you can’t do everything; I don’t question that at all. You must say no to some things or your life will be filled with stress. I think the question each of us must answer is, “What am I doing to make someone else’s life better?” And perhaps a better question is, “What have I done today to make someone else’s life better?”

Nothing good ever happens accidentally. If we want to make the world a better place, each of us must say: Change begins with me!

Loving Others Today: Go ahead and say it: “Change begins with me!”

Tuesday March 14, 2017

// March 14th, 2017 // Comments Off on Tuesday March 14, 2017 // Daily News

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