歪歪漫画

鈥淣o one wants to have oil in their water.鈥� 鈥� Natali Segovia,

It鈥檚 about the water. I鈥檓 returning to Mni Sose, the Missouri, eight years after the saga of Standing Rock, when tens of thousands of Water Protectors came to protect the river from the Dakota Access Pipeline.

In August of 2016, I went to the river, summoned by Ladonna Brave Buffalo, Debra White Plume and others, both in this world and who have passed. I came for the water, because being a Water Protector is about life. Try drinking oil.

The cases grind on. Over 800 people were charged, and millions of dollars have been paid to lawyers working on various cases. North Dakota is still seeking to get the U.S. government to pay for the $38 million the state expended on police forces, and that federal case was heard in March of this year in Bismarck. Meanwhile, the federal regulators just had their first hearing on the draft of the court-ordered Environmental Impact Statement this past November in Bismarck.

Just to say it again: The federally required EIS is being reviewed eight years after the pipeline was installed. That鈥檚 a bit backward.

The legal system is not a fast one, and it鈥檚 backed up with all sorts of stuff, including about 500,000 pages of evidence just released by Energy Transfer (ET) in a lawsuit against Greenpeace, the international environmental organization, for its participation in the opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. ET is charging Greenpeace with a staggering $300 million in damages for 鈥渄efamation鈥� of the company.

How do you defame an oil pipeline company? You say mean things about them.

This spring a bunch of documents were dumped into the public files in the lawsuit. One of them was a report, prepared for Greenpeace by pipeline experts, and 鈥�... determined there was a 鈥榬elatively high鈥� probability that during drilling under the Missouri River at the Lake Oahe crossing, 鈥�1.4 million gallons of drilling fluids鈥� were lost in 700 events ending up in Lake Oahe 鈥�.鈥�

That鈥檚 going to be a problem for us all.

That鈥檚 a lot of drilling fluid ending up in the Missouri River. Drilling fluid is the stuff that keeps the drill lubricated when it鈥檚 drilling deep under a river. Exactly what it contains is proprietary, but it鈥檚 supposed to be basically bentonite, sort of a clay stuff.

The problem is that Energy Transfer was already convicted of lacing drilling fluid with toxins. And ET was federally debarred by the EPA due to 48 criminal convictions in Pennsylvania stemming from concealment and failure to report drilling fluid leaks and use of unapproved additives such as diesel fuel resulting in water contamination at 21 sites during 鈥� construction of 鈥� east coast pipelines in 2017. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also initiated proceedings against ET for releasing 2 million gallons of drilling fluid containing diesel fuel under the Tuscarawas River in Ohio in 2017 and destroying a bunch of creeks. That鈥檚 the beginning.

The question for North Dakota might be, should you trust oil companies?

There鈥檚 a problem that most folks can see. North Dakota has 18 major petroleum pipelines and nine major natural gas pipelines 鈥� 30,000 miles of pipeline, or enough pipe to cross the state 88 times. Summit鈥檚 carbon pipeline would add 333 more miles.

Who checks on pipeline safety? That鈥檚 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA for short, the federal agency in charge, matched with some state inspectors. The most recent federal authorization bill required that the agency have 247 pipeline inspectors on the job in fiscal 2023, but PHMSA was 40 short of that number.

There鈥檚 at least 2.6 million miles of pipeline in the U.S., so those 200 folks are stretched thin. That's 10,000 miles per inspector! And PHMSA has not yet written regulations for hydrogen and carbon dioxide pipelines. Yet, there are hundreds of miles under construction or installed already. What kind of smart guys allow projects to proceed without any safeguards or regulations?

Then there鈥檚 state inspectors. In North Dakota, the online advertisements both offer services and seek more pipeline inspectors.

And then there鈥檚 the question of who gets to ask oil companies about their pipelines. In one hearing, Energy Transfer argued that it was not required to report loss of drilling fluids or other accidents to PHMSA while a pipeline is under construction. (Like when the drilling fluids spilled.) That is convenient.

Maybe there鈥檚 not a problem. After all, according to online sources, North Dakota has 37 documented cases of groundwater quality degradation. That鈥檚 astonishing, really, considering all the fracking spills.

Fundamentally, the question remains for us all, as Natali Segovia asks: 鈥淲ho is looking out for the health of the river, the fish and the 12 million people who live from Missouri River Water, including, 891 irrigation federal, state and tribal intakes from the Missouri?鈥�.

We might need more Water Protectors frankly.

鈥淲e cannot sit idly by and watch environmental regulations be rendered meaningless. They must count for something,鈥� Segovia says.

I鈥檇 like them to protect the water.