PIPELINE LEAK CAUSES 10,000-GALLON OIL SPILL IN MCKENZIE COUNTY, WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA. BRINE PIPELINE DAMAGED IN NORTH DAKOTA, LEAKED NEARLY 19K GALLONS IN DIVIDE COUNTY.

MARCH 6, 2015

TIOGA, N.D. (AP)

The North Dakota Department of Health says a ruptured pipeline led to a 10,000-gallon oil spill in McKenzie County, 18 miles south of Alexander.

The leak occurred after the pipeline owned by Belle Fourche Pipeline Co. was struck by equipment Friday during excavation of the area about 18 miles south of Alexander.

Health department officials say the leak was "mostly confined" to the excavated area and has not impacted any waterway.

Officials say the spill is not a threat to public health at this time, just to the environment.  10,000 gallons of oil is not an insignificant spill.

The NDDoH and the U.S. Forest Service will be providing oversight of the cleanup, which is underway.

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BRINE PIPELINE DAMAGED IN NORTH DAKOTA, LEAKED NEARLY 19K GALLONS

MARCH 6, 2015

DIVIDE COUNTY, ND

North Dakota said a pipeline transporting wastewater from oil and natural gas drilling was damaged and leaked nearly 19,000 gallons of brine in Divide County.

According to the state Department of Health (DOH), the leak occurred after the pipeline, which is owned by Continental Resources Inc., was struck by equipment performing an excavation. The leak totaled approximately 450 barrels of brine.

"The brine spill was confined to the excavated area near the pipeline, has not impacted any waterway and is not a threat to public health at this time," said Karl Rockeman, spokesman for the DOH's environmental health section. He said the incident happened 16 miles north of Tioga, ND.

Rockeman told NGI Friday that the incident occurred at about 1:30 p.m. CST on March 3.  He said the DOH and the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division responded to the incident and cleanup activities were under way.

2 MEN DIE IN SINGLE-VEHICLE, ROLL OVER CRASH IN AURORA, COLORADO. 2 WOMEN PASSENGERS INJURED, 1 CRITICALLY. HIGH SPEED AND DRUGS/ALCOHOL PLAYED MAJOR ROLES IN THE CRASH

MARCH 6, 2015

AURORA, COLORADO

Two people died in a traffic crash Friday around noon in Aurora. 

The double-fatal, rollover crash happened near East 23rd Avenue and Chambers Road, according to the Aurora Police Department. 

Witnesses told police that a black Chevrolet Impala had been headed north on Chambers Road at a high rate of speed, weaving in and out of traffic. The driver lost control, the Chevy went airborne off the east curb and the driver's side of the car hit a tree.

Police believe alcohol contributed to the crash. 

One man died at the scene and a second man, the driver, was taken to a hospital and declared dead there.

One woman passenger is in critical condition at Medical Center of Aurora South and a second woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash snarled traffic in the area for several hours. 

No one in the car was using a seat belt at the time of the crash, police said

SEMI-TRUCK CRASHES INTO A STOPPED CAR AND CAUSES A FIRE THAT DESTROYED THE CAB AND THE CAR IN LONG GROVE, ILLINOIS

MARCH 6, 2015

LONG GROVE, ILLINOIS

No one was hurt when an 18-wheel rig crashed into the back of a car Friday morning in Long Grove, causing a vehicular fire.

According to reports from Long Grove Fire Protection District deputy chief Marc Small and Lake County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Curtis Gregory, a man was driving his car north on Illinois Route 83 between Aptakisic and Hilltop roads shortly before 5 a.m. when the vehicle suddenly lost power.

There is little curbside to pull over onto in that area, so the man turned his hazard flashers on and left his vehicle, but it was obstructing its lane. As the “Hilltop Road” title indicates, this area is at the top of a hill, which obstructs oncoming vehicles’ visibility.

The car battery’s remaining power drained and the flashers’ light dwindled to nothing, Gregory said. Within minutes, a tractor-trailer crashed into the rear of the car and drove over its trunk.

Unharmed, the truck driver stayed in his cab and called 911, Small wrote in his report—until flames started seeping out of his engine compartment. The fire spread quickly to the crushed car underneath.

“The car and cab of the truck were both destroyed by fire,” Small wrote.

Firefighters used 2,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames. Gregory noted that the water “froze instantly” on Route 83’s northbound lanes, forcing deputies to close it off to traffic until salt trucks could arrive.

Paramedics examined the two drivers, who declined treatment. Gregory said he could not determine what had caused the car to stop in the street.

ILLINOIS OIL TRAIN DERAILMENT INVOLVED ALLEGEDLY “SAFER” TANK CARS. HOWEVER, THE RECENT FAILURE OF THESE TANK CARS HAS RAISED SOME SERIOUS DOUBTS TO THAT CLAIM

MARCH 6, 2015

GALENA, ILLINOIS (AP)

The rail cars that split open and burst into flames during a western Illinois oil train derailment this week had been retrofitted with protective shields to meet a higher safety standard than federal law requires, according to railroad officials.

The fire continued to burn Friday, a day after the derailment in a rural area south of the city of Galena. No injuries were reported, but the accident was the latest in a series of failures for the safer tank-car model that has led some people calling for even tougher requirements.

"It certainly begs that question when ... those standards failed to prevent leakage and explosions that threaten human safety and environmental contamination," said Steve Barg, director of the Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation, which owns a nature preserve several hundred yards from the derailment site.

BNSF Railway said the train's tank cars were a newer model known as the 1232. It was designed during safety upgrades voluntarily adopted by the industry four years ago in hopes of keeping cars from rupturing during derailments.

But 1232 standard cars have split open in three other accidents in the past year, including one in West Virginia last month. That train was carrying 3 million gallons of North Dakota crude when it derailed, shooting fireballs into the sky, leaking oil into a waterway and burning down a house. The home's owner was treated for smoke inhalation, but no one else was injured.

In Thursday's accident in Illinois, 21 of the train's 105 cars derailed in an area where the Galena River meets the Mississippi. BNSF Railway said a resulting fire spread to five rail cars. Firefighters could only access the derailment site by a bike path, said Galena Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley.

Emergency personnel were still working to contain the blaze Friday but described the area as "stable." The Federal Railroad Administration was investigating.

The train had 103 cars loaded with crude oil from the Northern Plains' Bakken region, along with two buffer cars loaded with sand, according to company spokesman Andy Williams. The cause of the derailment hasn't been determined.

The accident occurred 3 miles south of Galena in a wooded, hilly area popular with tourists. The area is alongside part of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge, but there was no indication of any oil contamination there so far, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Georgia Parhan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was monitoring the air, taking water samples and setting up booms to keep leaking oil from reaching nearby waterways.

As of June, BNSF was hauling 32 Bakken oil trains per week through the surrounding Jo Daviess County, according to information disclosed to Illinois emergency officials.

Recent derailments have increased public concern about the safety of shipping crude by train. The Association of American Railroads says oil shipments by rail jumped from 9,500 carloads in 2008, to 500,000 in 2014, driven by the boom in the Bakken oil patch of North Dakota and Montana. Pipeline limitations in the region force 70 percent of the crude to move by rail.

Since 2006, the U.S. and Canada have seen at least 22 oil-train accidents involving a fire, derailment or significant amount of fuel spilled, according to an Associated Press examination of federal accident records.

The wrecks have intensified pressure on President Barack Obama's administration to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars, despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries.

Oil industry officials had been opposed to further upgrading the 1232 cars because of costs. But late last year they changed their position and joined with the railway industry to support some upgrades, although they asked for time to make the improvements.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin released a statement Friday calling on the White House to quickly finalize its rule to strengthen standards, saying the increasing number of train derailments nationwide was unacceptable.

"There is mounting evidence that stricter standards are needed in the handling of Bakken crude, which appears to be particularly volatile," the Illinois Democrat said. "The safety of our communities depends on it."

OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES CAN SEND WORKERS’ FAMILIES INTO POVERTY. OSHA REPORT SHOWS HIGH COST OF WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS

MARCH 6, 2015

A new report from OSHA shows how workplace injuries and illnesses can force working families out of the middle class and into poverty.

Adding Inequality to Injury: The Costs of Failing to Protect Workers on The Job explores the heavy costs of occupational injuries on workers, their families and the economy.

With at least three million serious work-related injuries and countless occupational illnesses occurring every year, this issue affects a large number of people.

"For many, a workplace injury or illness means the end of the American dream, and the beginning of a nightmare," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.

The report details how:

• Injured workers and taxpayers subsidize high hazard employers
• The changing structure of work in the U.S. increases risk of injury and contributes to income inequality
• Occupational injuries and illnesses strain social insurance programs and result in taxpayer subsidies of unsafe employers
• It concludes, not surprisingly, that the most effective solution is to strengthen efforts to prevent work injuries and illnesses.

"Employers must do more to prevent these injuries from happening in the first place and insure that when they do, workers receive the benefits to which they are entitled,” said Michaels.