The Belle Fourche pipeline in Billings County, North Dakota, spilled an estimated 176,000 gallons of crude oil beginning December 5, reported the North Dakota Department of Health. Some 130,000 gallons of the spill have entered nearby Ash Coulee Creek, which connects to the Little Missouri, a tributary of the Missouri River.
A farmer in North Dakota discovered one of the largest crude oil spills ever recorded in the state just “bubbling up out of the ground” while harvesting wheat a few months ago. Farmer Steve Jensen stated that he smelled the crude oil a few days before his combines were covered in it. The oil was…