Oil field wastewater spill on the Blackfeet Reservation
<p>An exploratory well about 1.5 miles north of Browning on Highway 89 in this file photo. The mountains in the background are in Glacier National Park. The wastewater spill was located further east closer to Cut Bank on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.</p>
About 12.600 gallons of wastewater from oil and gas production spilled last week on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation about 10 miles southwest of Cut Bank.
The Bureau of Land Management reported the spill on Jan. 7. BLM officials said the spill did not involve oil. Extremely cold weather reportedly cracked an overflow pipe on a tank.
Grinnell Day Chief, director of the Blackfeet Tribe’s Oil, Gas and Minerals Department, said “very little, if any” crude oil was in the water. The wastewater did contain salt.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said FX Drilling Co. had already begun to clean up the spill. Surface soil will need to be scraped away for disposal, and the area will be re-seeded in the spring. The Blackfeet Environmental Office is overseeing the cleanup.
“The Blackfeet Tribe and the Blackfeet Environmental Office have a zero tolerance policy for spills of this nature and expects the responsible party to respond quickly and effectively,” BEO director Shawn Lahr stated Jan. 10.
The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council sent a letter to FX Drilling on Jan. 9 asking them to clean up the spill with BEO oversight.
FX Drilling placed three berms to contain the spill — a large berm one at the end of the spill, another across the road and one further down from that point, according to Tribal Response program technician Austin Bear Medicine. Continuous monitoring will be in effect until the site is free of any contamination.
“BEO is diligently working to see all cleanup efforts are being met and that the site will be restored to its natural state,” David Spotted Eagle, Jr. said.