North Dakota has become the second largest oil producer in the country
next to Texas. With the activity that is happening in the Bakken oil field
in North Dakota and Montana, the damages and affect on local landowners
is becoming increasingly difficult and burdensome. The process now commonly
referred to as fracking has allowed oil and gas companies to extract millions
upon millions of gallons of oil from eastern Montana and North Dakota.
The process consists of driving millions of gallons of a concoction made
of water and chemicals to "frack" the earth that releases the
deposits of gas and/or oil. The affects to surface and land owners is
largely unknown but concerns are rising about what effect spills and the
ingredients in the fracking solution may have on the grass, water, livestock,
or general environment may have. The attached MSNBC article shows insight
into what some of the spills, lately in and around North Dakota, can have
on grass, water, livestock, and environment when not cleaned up or reported.
The oil companies are moving at incredible pace to produce oil and natural
gas; the article illustrates their intent to report and clean up their
mess is not the top priority, the companies' priorities are to produce
oil and gas and make a profit.
