One of the partners behind a proposed crude oil pipeline that would pass under Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota, recently agreed to install an additional block valve as a safety measure to ease concerns about how quickly a spill could pollute the lake.
Sacagawea Pipeline Co. applied in March for a route permit for the 70-mile pipeline, which would move 140,000 barrels of oil per day from a terminal in McKenzie County to a rail-loading facility being built in Mountrail County. The company is a joint venture between Irving, Texas-based Paradigm Energy Partners, Phillips 66 and Grey Wolf Midstream, which is owned by the Three Affiliated Tribes and is an investor in the project.
Members of the public and the Friends of Lake Sakakawea organization who attended a public hearing this summer, raised concerns about how quickly spilled oil could flow from the pipeline into the lake near Reunion Bay, about 12 miles southwest of New Town.
Public Service Commission chairwoman Julie Fedorchak asked the company to consider installing an additional block valve to minimize the size of a spill. Paradigm CEO Troy Andrews agreed to the request in an affidavit filed Sept. 23, noting that while the valve “will have no effect on a worst case spill,” it will be installed as long as a landowner agrees to it – something the company’s land and right-of-way manager, Jason Stelzer, said he’s still working on.